Project SAS
by sheluby94dreamer
Summary: Alex is back in school after his latest mission Snakehead. He's in his tenth year, and after two weeks in, Scorpia decides to take over his school for revenge. Alex and twenty other students are forced to go to SAS camp because they were witnesses.
1. the project

**Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this new story! Feedback is very much so appreciated! **

"Okay class, we're starting a new project today." said Mrs. Wright. The whole class moaned with disapproval.

Alex Rider was sitting in the back corner with his eyes closed. His hair hadn't been combed or messed with in a couple of days so it was all over the place. It was the first day of the second week of school, and after what he had done all summer, he was frankly too tired to do anything at the moment.

"Mr. Rider, do you care to join us?" Alex woke up with a start. He blinked a couple of times and stretched out his arms.

"Thank you Mr. Rider. Like I telling the class, while you were dozing off, we are starting a new project today. I want you to write a paper on what you did for your summer vacation. It needs to be at least ten pages long, and it's due Wednesday."

"Great." moaned Alex. Mrs. Wright looked up at the clock. Right then the bell rang. Everyone started to pack up their stuff so they could go to their lockers before their next class.

"Mr. Rider, will you stay after class for a second? I need to speak with you." Alex sighed. He didn't like this class, it was one of the only classes that he didn't have with Tom. Even though it was a brand new year, he was always treated with stares and whispers. It still didn't end. Alex continued to gather his belongings, and carried them to Mrs. Wright's desk at the front of the classroom.

"Alex," she replied with a wary look of concern on her face, "you haven't paid any attention to class for the past two weeks. Is there something wrong?"

"No ma'am."

"I was talking to the other teachers that you have and they seem to have the same problem with you that I have. Are you sure that there isn't anything?"

"Yes, I must not be getting to bed early enough." She nodded her head. Her eyes gave a totally opposite reaction away though. Her body language told him that she accepted the answer, but her eyes told him that she didn't believe it. Alex wouldn't have noticed this if he weren't trained to do so.

Alex turned to leave when Mrs. Wright spoke again. "And Alex," Alex turned around again to make eye contact with the fellow teacher. "don't sleep in my class again." Alex nodded his head in response. He was more focused on what he was going to write for his paper.

_What am I going to do for that paper? I can't possibly tell what I really did. Or could I? _

Alex was jogging alone around the track. Even though Mrs. Wright had held Alex back a few minutes, he was still the first one changed for P.E.

Tom hadn't gotten started his warm up laps yet, but once he was done changing, he slid into the rhythm. Alex continued to jog around the track. He was on his fourth lap and after he finished that one, he had one more to do. He wasn't breathing hard what so ever.

"Alex." Tom said in a normal tone. Tom had caught up with Alex's speed, but he was still on his second lap. Alex's attention didn't waver one bit. He was still focused on what to do about his English paper.

"Alex." He continued again but this time waving his hand in front of his friends' face.

"Alex!" Tom this time shouted in between breaths.

"What!" Alex shouted after Tom broke through his thoughts.

"What are you thinking about inside that head of yours?"

"Nothing."

"You've got something on your mind then mate?" Tom replied while continuing to breath hard.

"Paper due Wednesday." Alex replied while wiping the sweat away that had finally started forming around his hairline.

"What on?"

"Summer vacation." Replied Alex dreading what the next question of the 'ask Alex twenty questions game'.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm thinking about just writing about what I actually did."

"But wouldn't that be braking the Secrets Act? Or what ever the hell that act is called?"

"Hurry up ladies! We don't have all day!" replied Coach Carter.

"Not if they don't believe me." Alex replied while stopping. He had finished his five laps. Tom continued on running.

"Rider!" yelled Coach Carter. Alex started to jog over to where the coach was. He was standing back by the gates to the track.

"Yes Coach Carter?"

"Why aren't you doing laps like the other boys?"

"I've already completed my five sir." replied Alex.

"I don't see much sweat on you boy! You couldn't have possibly done your five!"

"It doesn't take me as long as the other boys."

"I see. I want you to do five more!"

"Fine."

In the boy's locker room, Tom and Alex had finished taking their showers. They were getting dressed while finishing their conversation from earlier.

"So wait, what exactly did you do this summer?"

"Train mainly."

"With whom? The K-Unit?"

"Sort of."

"I don't understand."

"I was really with MI6 the whole summer."

"What did they do?"

"They started off with a cardiac evaluation to see how fit I was. Then they moved onto stamina/speed training along with agility and then muscle building. I also learned three new languages and finally how to assemble a gun, clean it, and then take it apart."

"I thought you already knew how to do that." replied Tom while picturing Alex's vacation. Alex was sitting down while putting on his socks. Tom was pulling his shirt over his head.

"I do, but Blunt doesn't know that." Tom nodded his head.

"What three languages?"

"Japanese, Russian, and Italian."

"That's harsh mate."

"That's not even half of it."

"You mean you did more than just that?" Alex nodded. He glanced at black and silver watch that was on his right wrist. He picked up his dirty cloths and sticks them in his gym locker.Tom does the same while at the same time trying to slide his feet into his shoes without tying them. The bell rang for the end of the class so Alex and Tom head to their lockers to grab the books for the next class.


	2. man over the intercom

**Thank you michellefromhell, wolfmaster, Jusmine (When are you going to update your AR fic? I'm dieing here!), Drayconette, oirishgoddess, call me richardson (I'm glad you like SAS stories! So do I!), HawkEye DownUnder (I love your Moonlight story!), ninjawoman (Love your fic! Update soon!), JK Mafia (I absolutely love your AR fic!), Zoeyua, Micaburn, Rid3r chick (I love your Sk8er Boi!), Lee Pyro and Flame of the Dark Phoenix for reviewing!**

**Also, in the last chapter I made a mistake of typing James when it was supposed to be Tom. So when you read James in this chapter, I actually mean a boy named James. I just wanted to clear that up. Don't forget! I Love Feedback from all of my readers! Thanks!**

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It was in the middle of seventh period when Alex noticed the silence from outside. There were usually some kinds of noises in the atmosphere, either the birds singing, the wind whistling through the trees, or the distant sound of laughter from the playground across the street. But, now there was none. Complete. Total. Silence.

Alex was on raw nerves now. He couldn't stand that something was wrong. The birds knew it, the wind knew it, even he knew it, but he couldn't do anything about it.

The silence was so indescribable that Alex felt like he could hear the clock tick every second that went by. He felt like everything went into slow motion. Everything.

Sweat was pouring down Alex's face. He could see every water droplet drop on his desk.

But what broke the silence was something that Alex didn't want to hear ever again. The rapid fire of a Glock 18C going off in the hallway. Alex listened closely for any sound of a body getting shot, but he didn't hear one. So he assumed that the freaks were shooting a warning shot.

"Everybody get down!" shouted Alex. Even the teacher got beneath his desk. Alex crawled to the window to see where the men were. He noticed that there were two men heading to the pair of double doors that was located about seven classrooms up from where he was at the moment.

"Lo Danni!"(1) he cursed in Italian. He then crawled to the hard wooden door that was one of two of the only ways of getting in the classroom. (Not including busting down walls.)

There is a small window on the door, so, Alex slowly stood up to peer out of the classroom.

About five feet away, a man was holding a Glock 18C and looking around the hallway. Luckily, the man had his back to Alex, so he hadn't been spotted yet.

Over the intercom, a man's raspy voice came on.

"Attention everyone!" the man said. His voice did not give any emotion for Alex to examine his options. "Attention everyone." He repeated again. "I do not, I repeat, I do not want to hurt anyone," _Yeah right, _Alex thought to himself, "but all I want is for little Alex Rider to step into the hallway. Then I'll let everyone go. Did you catch that Rider?"

His whole class stared at him. Even the teacher did so.

"Why do they want you Alex?" asked James. He was a blond like Alex, but he had deep green eyes and was about four inches shorter than Alex.

"I guess my school file was left on top of the principle's desk so they decided to pick me." The intercom blared to life again before anyone could second guess Alex's reply.

"Mr. Rider, we're waiting," Alex started to turn to leave, but a hand pulled him back for a second.

"Good luck, mate," replied Tom while patting him on the back.

"Thanks Tom." Tom nodded his head while Alex took the last few steps to the door. He opened it up, slid threw the small crack that he made for himself and closed the door behind him. His heart was pounding in his ears and his adrenaline was spiking. He was readying himself for anything and everything.

"Ah, there you are Alex! I'm so glad you could join us. But, it's so sad that you won't be with us for long." The man that was over the intercom was now facing Alex. About a foot away, the intercom system was on the hallway floor. The man was all in black leather with black leather gloves and his hair was a dark gray color. He was in his fifties and he had electric green eyes. He was a good fifteen feet away from Alex.

"Good bye, Alex Rider." The man pointed the gun at Alex. Alex knew he couldn't out run a bullet, so instead he figured his only chance at survival is to run at the man. So, that's exactly what Alex did. He ran at the man. When the man was about the pull the trigger, Alex slid on the slick hallway floor just like he was sliding into a base during a game of baseball. Instead of keeping his legs straight, he reared up with his left leg to sweep the man off his feet.

When this happened, the gun went flying. Alex was the first to react, so he went diving for the gun. The man was a tad bit dazed, but once he realized what Alex was going, the man went diving after him. The man grabbed Alex's feet, but for his efforts ended with a hard kick in the face. The pain and sudden reaction was all it took for the man to let go of Alex's feet.

Alex grabbed the gun and quickly got to his feet. Three men were sprinting his way. Alex, even though he didn't want to do it, pulled the trigger three times, each bullet hitting their target effortlessly in the chest. Alex then went over to the other man and pointed the barrel of the gun to the man's head. Alex didn't hear silent footsteps behind him from a fourth man, but he did hear the safety click off. Alex held his spot, not letting his guard down, or moving from his position so the man couldn't shoot Alex without Alex shooting his boss. Suddenly, both sets of double doors on either side of the hallway were wrenched open. Men and women barged in with guns in the shooting position. They pointed their handguns at Alex, the man that Alex was pointing a gun at on the floor and the man that was pointing a gun at Alex.

"Drop your weapons!" shouted the woman from the upper set of double doors. The man dropped his weapon and the gun made a loud crash to the ground. He then slowly raised his hands into the air.

"Rider, that was directed for you to stand down too!" she ordered. Alex slowly withdrew the gun so the barrel was pointed at the ground. He switched the safety back on so if he dropped it and it hit something it wouldn't go off accidentally.

One of the men from the southern doors brought handcuffs for the man of the ground. The woman approached Alex with her hand out. Alex handed her the gun. She then put it into her thigh holster.

"You did a good job, you know?" she said while putting her hand around his shoulder trying to comfort the boy. They started to walk back to the upper set of double doors. Four men took the two assassins while everyone else went door to door clearing everyone and explaining the situation. Finally ,Alex replied after taking everything in that was happening around him.

"I know."

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(1)By the way, I don't know ANY Italian so I'm sorry if that doesn't mean what it's supposed to mean.


	3. the explanation

**I want to thank my new beta Drayconette, and everyone else who reviewed this chapter! I just hope you really like this chapter!**

The woman walked outside with Alex in tow. A couple of ambulances and several black government cars littered the front yard of the building. Alan Blunt was nowhere in sight, but Alex felt his presence hovering over the yard. They continued walking onward until Mrs. Jones materialized from behind one of the ambulances.

"Thank you agent Freedbush." The woman nodded her head in response. She departed, sending a smile at Alex and leaving him in the presence of Mrs. Jones.

"Alex, will you follow me, please?"

"Depends." Replied while crossing his arms. He wasn't in the best of moods after having to shoot down three men in the middle of his own school. He was supposed to be safe here!

"On what?"

"Where we're going."

"We are going to meet up with your class."

"Why the hell do I have to go?"

"Because, Alex. Do you really think no one saw your little stunt in the hallway? We certainly can't have you disappearing after a performance like that." Alex didn't have a response for this. He actually hadn't even thought about it. He'd only been reacting to the threat of men with guns in his school. He didn't want anyone to be hurt. "Also, with your continued training, our excuse for you being sickly just won't cut it anymore. We will have to explain something to them for all this. Lets try to include as little truth as we can get by with."

"Fine." He said, rolling his eyes. He'd been trying to tell MI6 for months that the excuse was fooling no one and only causing suspicion.

The two of them reentered the school and headed to the cafeteria. Other agents were herding students into the cafeteria and telling everyone to sit on the benches. Once everyone was gathered, there was almost complete silence within the Cafeteria. The only noises that could be heard were benches squeaking from someone shifting in their seat. Either everyone was still in shock from what had happened, or they didn't dare ask questions.

"We're sending you and some of your classmates who are in need of protection to the SAS camp in Brecon Beacons, Whales." Mrs. Jones informed Alex, as they walked through the halls.

_More training. Joy._ Alex sighed but remained quiet.

"We are going to separate you and those other high risk students from the rest of your year so you can explain the situation and your 'background'. They will have to sign the secrets act, and they will be sent home with a waver for their parents to sign and bring back to school. We don't know how many Scorpia agents there were supposed to be in this attack, so be careful, you may not have stopped them all. We haven't done a full search yet but it is to be done soon. Just be on the look out." Alex nodded his head. He had figured out that this was not the time to make a sarcastic comment even though his thoughts readily supplied them.

Mrs. Jones and Alex finally made it to the emergency double doors that were located at the back of the cafeteria. Mrs. Jones opened the doors, and when everyone saw Alex walk in, the whole cafeteria was swept with whispers. Alex, while walking by, heard the small exchange between the two kids nearest to him.

"Did you hear?! He killed three guys with a gun! Jack said he saw the whole thing!"

"Yeah, I heard that those guys that called over the intercom wanted Rider because of a bad drug deal!" Alex rolled his eyes at this one. Ever since he had started going missing, someone had started a rumor that he was a drug addict. _At least that rumor wasn't as bad as some of the other ones_ Alex thought will a mental groan.

He continued walking towards the small stage that was built into the wall. Mrs. Jones walked up to the microphone and tapped it twice. Alex didn't follow her. He stayed at the bottom of the steps, wanting everyone to stare at him the whole time. _Like it really makes a difference_; he could feel all of their eyes still drilling into the back of his head as he resolutely kept his fixed on Mrs. Jones.

"Can everyone hear me?" she asked in the sweetest voice. The entire cafeteria went deadly quiet. Every person in the cafeteria shifted both eyes to stare at Mrs. Jones.

"Good. My name is Tulip Jones. I work for the British Government and I was called here to debrief you on the situation that took place about fifteen minutes ago. Before I continue, however, I would like the students who did indeed see the incident to stand up. I understand that you might be scared, and let me tell you, you're not in trouble in any way, this is for your own protection." twenty kids stood up. Twelve of them were guys and the other eight were girls.

"Now, I want those twenty-one of you who are standing to follow agent Freedbush, please. I will say again you aren't in trouble in anyway whatsoever." She paused a second to give time for her directions to be followed and to gather her thoughts. Alex noticed that she said twenty-one so he turned to follow the other twenty out the door.

A girl that had deep chocolate hair and bright green eyes stood up and raised her hand.

"Yes?" replied Mrs. Jones.

"Why did this happen to us? And why was it Alex Rider's name called over the intercom? How is he involved? Was it all his fault?!" Mrs. Jones blinked. She knew she was going to have to come up with something quickly, however, as one of the heads of MI6, she was unaccustomed to telling workable lies without proper procedures. Alex stopped in his tracks. He had heard the girls' question, and he noticed the lack of response from Mrs. Jones. He knew he'd have to do the storytelling for this one. Alex sprinted back into the cafeteria.

"Mrs. Jones, I might as well tell them." A bit relieved, she nodded her head. She understood what he meant and decided this was better. If they were going to make something up, it might as well be Alex; he was the one who had to live it.

Alex walked up the small flight of stairs to where the microphone was. Mrs. Jones stepped out of the way.

"Er… alright. So I guess it all starts with my Uncle. I'd been living with him for pretty much my entire life. He worked for a bank and when he was running the banks's monthly check-up, he found that he was missing over half a million pounds. Of course, he reported it to the government, and they found that there was fraud within the system. The man who took the money was a real bad bloke who was involved in a load of other scandals. So my uncle testified against him in court. But then, about a week later, my uncle… er… well he died in a rather suspicious car accident. So the government figured that they should give me protection from further 'revenge'. Over the past year I've had some run-ins with the convicted guy's men. That's why I've been gone so much and come back to school looking a mess. I've even been hospitalized for my injuries. That's why they picked my name today. They're really out for revenge on what my uncle had done." Alex stopped, observing the students. He could almost see everyone's mind suck on the information that was given. "So I guess, in a way, the men being here was my fault… but I certainly didn't want them to show up."

"But that still doesn't explain how or why you killed those three guys." A guy toward the back called out. Alex recognized him as James, from his seventh period class.

"I've played enough paintball to know how to shoot a gun. They were close enough that I still could manage to shoot strait. And really, I just saw them running at me and reacted. I didn't want them going into the classrooms and using any of you as hostages or anything" There was a short pause that hovered the room. Deciding he'd done enough explaining and was quite finished with all the stares, Alex started to walk of stage.

"Alex." called a girl from one of the front benches. Alex stopped and slowly turned to hear what the girl had to say.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." She replied. She said this loud enough so the whole cafeteria could hear her. Many other students joined in with nods and quiet sounds of agreement.

"Yeah, thanks Rider." A short blond boy said while putting his arm around the girl. Giving his fellow students a last long look, Alex silently took the last couple of stairs off the stage and went out the pair of double doors.


	4. Fun with Writing Utensils

**Thanks everyone who reviewed the last chapter!!**

**Here's more fun and games with Alex!**

**Oh, and for now on, I know that I haven't done this yet, but I Don't Own Alex Rider, so there we go... But I do own all the character names that are in the 'high risk' group! Later!**

Chapter 4

Alex walked along the school corridors until he saw a door slightly ajar, with sounds of movement inside. Deciding this was probably where the other twenty students had been led, he walked into the room. What he found was not students, however, instead four men were standing within, quickly and efficiently loading magazines into their guns. The man closest to the door, with a large tattoo on his arm and close cut, black hair, immediately noticed the boy's enterance. He glanced up and immediately took out his loaded gun. At their comrade's disturbance, the other three men also noticed the new arrival and jumped into action. One of the men, with long hair, pulled back with a rubber band at the nape of his neck, jumped behind Alex to close the door. Less than ten seconds after he'd entered the room, Alex realized that these men weren't MI6, and that he was in trouble.

Alex swore loudly in Spanish and the four men laughed. He took the few seconds of them enjoying their supposed triumph to evaluate his situation. _They'll probably start shooting soon. Take out the guns first. Then deal with the men. _

Alex charged at the man closest to him, a tall, thin blond. Blondie clearly wasn't expecting such a sudden and direct attack, for Alex kicked the gun out of his hand with ease. He followed the move up with a jab in the solar plexus, and brought the man down for a long nap with an uppercut to the jaw. The weapon had gone flying across the room, hitting the wall hard. Alex figured it was a cheap model, because it had broke easily with the impact.

Alex didn't allow himself the time to ponder on it, knowing the other men would be quick to react. He lunged behind a nearby desk for protection a moment before the machine guns went off, and bullets began to slam into the wood backing.

_I need a weapon._ Alex thought. He opened the first desk drawer and found files upon files stacked by last names. He slammed the drawer shut in frustration. Wrenching open the drawer above it, he found mugs full of writing utensils, along with a stapler and a hole puncher. _Right, so I've got three mugs, a stapler and a hole puncher. Brilliant._

Suddenly, the gunfire resided. "Rider! Don't be a coward! Show yourself!"

The mocking command came from directly in front of the desk. Slowly, Alex brought his head up to locate the placing of the other two conscious men. Flanking the short, bald man standing just a few feet in front of the desk, was Ponytail on his left by one wall, and Tattoo standing near the right wall.

"Why would I want to come out? I'm having a real blast behind here, actually. Thanks for the advice, though!" While he was stalling with the 'pleasantry,' Alex got onto the balls of his feet in a squatting position. He readied himself with a mug in each hand. He knew this was a risky and pathetic plan, but he didn't have many options.

"Shut it, and come face your fate, boy!"

"Oh alright then..." Like a cobra, Alex sprang up and threw a mug at Baldie and Ponytail each. At the noises and cursing, he knew he'd hit his targets, but he didn't stick around to see the damage done. He immediately ducked low for protection as Tattoo expectedly rattled off another round of bullets at the now mangled desk.

"You're going to run out of ammo eventually." Alex knew that Baldie had joined Blondie on the ground with a potential headache upon consciousness, but he figured Ponytail would soon get over his injured hand and might go for Baldie's unbroken gun. Swiftly evaluating his options, Alex threw the last mug at Tattoo, hoping for an end to the continuous rampage. Unfortunately, not being able to see to aim, Alex's throw merely shattered the mug against the wall.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Tattoo taunted, pausing to load another round in. Not wanting him to complete the action, Alex decided that he needed a distraction. He glanced into the top drawer again to find all the pens and pencils that the mugs had held. Going on impulse, he began to randomly throw pencils over the top of the desk, at the men. While the two men were swatting away writing utensils, Alex deftly threw the hole puncher at Ponytail, who had been about to pick up the gun on the floor. Tattoo got a stapler, that actually shot a staple, right into his right hand. Alex's opponents were momentarily all disarmed, but he knew the fight was far from over.

Abandoning the depleted supply of writing utensils, Alex stepped out from behind the desk to provide space to defend himself. Unfortunately, Ponytail had been ready for him and immediately threw a hard punch at his head. Just ducking the blow, Alex hastily blocked his follow up jab. Barely keeping one step ahead of his attacker, Alex realized that he was well matched in skill. Dodging a kick to the face, the young spy backed up into a chair and momentarily lost his balance. That was all it took for Ponytail to get in a vicious blow to the face.

Stars bursting before his eyes, Alex stumbled and just managed to block another blow that would have left him unconscious for hours. Unfortunately, in his disorientation, he'd failed to notice Tattoo come up behind him, and he suddenly found himself in a painfully controlling arm lock. He struggled, trying frantically to get his arms free of the hold, but it only grew tighter and he could stop from crying out in pain. Knowing he was caught, for the moment, Alex let himself go limp to save his energy for a final resistance later.

His plans were unneeded, however, for the gun shots and noise had finally been noticed by the MI6 agents that were supposedly swarming the building. Both men and Alex heard the running footsteps and loud shouts coming toward the room. Tattoo kept Alex in a bear hug, and Ponytail continued to sneer, even though they both knew they had been defeated. Neither man wanted to let the kid that had caused so much trouble and hurt for the men go without a lesson

So, once again, Alex was subjected to undeserved pain. Tattoo tightened his hold viciously until Alex saw red. Moving rapidly and forcefully, Ponytail started raining blows onto the young spy's restrained body. The commotion outside reached the door and armed MI6 agents burst through, immediately swarming the room, and put a stop to the beating. Alex was let go, and the two enraged assasins were forced to their knees.

Upon being released, Alex staggered to the desk and clenched onto the edge for balance. It had taken him a moment to stand up from where Tattoo had thrown him onto the floor. He reached up to wipe a trickle of blood from his mouth away with a sleeve, wincing at the addition to his collection of bruises. He hurt all over, and it was taking a bit to get his breath back, but other than that he figured he was fine.

The MI6 agents restrained and bundled up the four men and led them out of the room. Suddenly, an unexpected familiar face showed himself in.

"Did it again, then? Should expect it by know, though. Good to see you, Cub." Greeted Ben Daniels, a.k.a. Fox. Alex lifted his head wearily, making eye contact with the man. Slowly, Alex took a step toward the door with his hand still on the desk for support. He managed another, but this time he ran out of desk. He stumbled forward a couple of steps, before he regained his balance.

"Hey there, Cub, you look like a drunk." The older man smirked. Alex managed a grin at that.

"Thanks a load, Ben." He replied dryly.

"If you can manage, we should probably go meet up with those 'high risk' kids so we can get on our way." Alex nodded, wearily. With another hesitant step forward, he found that his legs could handle the weight again. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he nodded again and exited the room.


	5. All the Time

** Hello my lovely and devoted readers!!**

**Thanks for your impute on the last chapter!!**

**Guess what? Here's another chapter for you to enjoy. I would like to thank my wonderful and absolutely the best beta in the world Drayconette for helping me out.  
**

**Anywho, telling me your thoughts would be a delight. So again Enjoy! **

**Oh, and one more thing, From now on, I hope everyone knows this, but I don't own Alex Rider. If I did, I wouldn't be posting this on the site, I would ready this for the next book!**

Chapter 5

Alex was led to another room much farther from the cafeteria. This time, it was full of MI6 agents and the other 'high-risk' kids. As Alex followed Ben into the room, everyone's turned to the door, their eyes immediately fixing onto the young spy. Not at all in the mood to ignore the rude and assuming stares, Alex glared from one person to another, until most turned their attention elsewhere.

With a sigh, Alex took his eyes away from the others' to study the room. On the desk was a neatly piled stack of cream-colored papers. He dully noticed that they were all signed at the bottom and where titled **The Official Secrets Act. **

Ben caught his attention by saying quietly next to his ear, "They've all been briefed." With a look, Alex stepped back outside the classroom, knowing the older spy would join him.

"On what information have they been "briefed," exactly?" Alex began, once they were both out in the privacy of the hall.

"The information on your 'past' that you made up, of course."

"Then they haven't been told the truth?"

"Right- they've all have been officially lied to." Ben announced cheerfully. Alex didn't find it at all entertaining.

"What more did they need to be briefed on? I thought I explained it already."

"We just added some random details to the whole story, to make it more plausible." Alex was silent, his eyes boring into the wall, trying to take everything in. A lot had happened in just one afternoon. Ben was watching Alex curiously, trying to imagine what the boy could be thinking about. After several moments, Alex remember there was a room full of students and MI6 operatives waiting for them, just through the door.

"When are we leaving?" He finally said, after making eye contact with Ben again.

"1600 hours this afternoon." Alex mentally sighed. He wouldn't get any sleep tonight.

"How long?"

"Three weeks."

"Brilliant." Alex mumbled darkly. With yet another mental sigh, he turned and headed back into the room. _Right. So I wonder… Am I merely going to redo what I did when I first when to Brecon Beacons? Or am I going to have to act up so I get to do something more… challenging? Oh, I hope K-Unit isn't going to be there… If so, do they know we're coming? I really don't want to have to explain all of this to them._

"Hmm, that's not such a bad idea…" Ben whispered evilly, as they entered the room, so Alex could only hear. Alex shot him a searching, puzzled look. He wasn't expecting that. _How'd he know what I was thinking?_

"Your thoughts are written all over your face… 'Cub'." Ben smirked knowingly. He was enjoying this way too much.

Their quiet interaction was interrupted by Mrs. Jones voice crackling over the intercom. Everyone, excluding Alex and a few of the operatives, jumped at the sound. "Attention everyone! The school has been cleared. Everyone, except the HR students, is to report to the front yard. Children- your parents have started to arrive to collect you. School is canceled for the rest of the week." Although her tone was one of supposed cheerfulness, Alex easily noted the small hint of annoyance in her voice. He guessed the day had been a long one for more than just him.

Eventually, after nearly an hour of sitting around inside the classroom, most of the students were getting restless, and even the operatives seemed impatient. Alex sat silently, in thought. Ben had left a while back, grumbling about having to deal with the HR students' parents. Alex almost felt bad for the ex-SAS man.

Finally, the door opened and Mrs. Jones walked in. Typically, she was sucking on a newly unwrapped peppermint. Alex could hear the obnoxious crinkle of the plastic wrapper in her left hand.

"Hello again. You students will need to have some extra protection. I will explain later, once we are on the way. Would you all follow me, please?" The students slowly stood up. They were a little hesitant in following Mrs. Jones, but the MI6 agents that had stayed behind herded everyone out the classroom door. Alex was the last one to get up and follow Mrs. Jones, wanting to prolong the inevitable. As they started to walk out of the building, and the MI6 leader still didn't speak, some of the students started whispering to their neighbors about something or other. But Alex didn't have the patience or care to eavesdrop on their conversations.

They ended up at the back of the school where an enormous black bus stood idling for them. They stopped and a girl with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes, who seemed to have been having an intense, but quiet, argument with a few other students, blurted out, "Do our parents know about this?"

Mrs. Jones paused. "What is your name?"

"Jessie Haden."

"Well, Ms. Haden. Your answer is yes. We are going to each one of your houses and you will have no more than five minutes each to pack up necessities and say your goodbyes. Bring a small bag with only essentials. No electronics please. That includes cell phones, I-Pods, anything along those lines. If you have medication, make sure you don't forget it. Any more questions?"

A boy with bright red hair and electric green eyes raised a hand, but didn't bother to be called on, "Felix is the name. Where are we going?"

"You are going to one of the most secure places in the entire world. It is a Military training camp for SAS soldiers. You will be spending three weeks there. The Sergeant and some of the operatives will explain the rest when you arrive at the camp." The other students immediately burst into excited conversations. Alex mentally groaned. _This was going to be a **very** long three weeks. _

Everyone was herded onto the bus and directed to sit. Most of the students headed for the back, sitting two or three to each bench so they would have the comfort of each other. Alex followed them partway back, unconsciously wanting to just go with the flow. Everyone was around his age and he knew each student by name, but apparently that wasn't nearly enough for them to accept him. The closest friend he had in the group was a boy named Jackson. But even he made it obvious he wanted Alex to keep his distance. The young spy was becoming more and more the outcast by the second. Choosing to avoid confrontation, Alex sat in a seat closer to the front, by himself.

Fourteen stops later, Alex turned from staring vaguely out the window to glance at his watch- 5:20. They'd spent all day sitting around in that school and driving around town. _Still_, Alex mused, _we've made good time on the driving_. He looked back out the window and realized they were nearly to Alex's house.

The bus stopped at the end of the Rider driveway. As the doors opened, Alex quickly stepped off and sprinted into the house. He found Jack pacing next to the phone, seemingly waiting for a call. As he entered the room, her head shot around. An expression of extreme relief rushed over her face as she dashed over to him. She gathered her charge in a hug, as though he had been gone for a lifetime.

"You didn't show after school and I was so worried. Thought MI6 had gotten to you again. Thank heavens you're home now…"

"Not for long." He tried to get out of the almost suffocating embrace, but at his words, she only tightened her grip.

"What do you mean 'not for long'?"

"They're sending me back to the SAS, Jack." She pulled back, biting her lip, and studied his face for confirmation. She saw the seriousness and resignation in his face and looked away, cursing some colorful words under her breath. She wasn't going to let go without a fight.

"Jack, I need to pack a few things before my time is up." He gently released himself from her grip and her arms hung down, slack at her sides.

"I don't understand Alex." Frustrated, she stared anxiously at the teen.

"I know Jack. But… Scorpia came to my school and tried to kill me today- twice. I agree with MI6 this time. I need to go."

"Alex."

"Jack." She half-heartedly smiled at him. Alex ran up the stairs to his bedroom. He grabbed a small backpack from his closet, which he used a few years ago for school. He rapidly threw in some clothing, toothbrush and toothpaste, some of his leftover gadgets from Smithers, an extra pair of trainers, and a handful of matched socks. As he dashed out the room, he noticed his desktop computer sitting on his desk.

_Guess my paper is going to have to wait._ He thought, almost cheerfully.

His bag on his shoulder, he sprinted through the house, meeting Jack at the door. As he paused, she took a good long look at Alex. He felt like she was taking a photograph of him so she could store it away for safekeeping.

"How long?" She asked, unknowingly repeating his same words from earlier.

"Three weeks." She mumbled a couple more colorful words under her breath, and the teen grinned at her antics.

"Okay, well… be safe, Alex."

"When am I ever not safe?"

"All the time." She replied while hugging him fiercely.

Alex carried his bag out the door and towards the bus. He climbed onto the bus, and headed toward an empty bench, knowing he wasn't welcome on any of the already occupied seats. This was going to be a long trip.


	6. Ride

**MUHAHAHAHAHA!!**

**I have come to collect your souls in this chapter! MUHAHAHAHA!!**

**As for assisting me on collecting everyone souls is my lovely beta Drayconette who is loved and adored by all who doesn't cross her!**

**Now I proudly present, and I also do not own the main character but I do own the students, D-Unit, and the MI6 agent, the soul collecting chapter!! If you actually read this, then you would know that if you press the lovely button when you reach the bottom of the chapter that your soul WILL NOT be collected. Further more, Here is the lovely chapter that everyone has been waiting for!!**

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Chapter 6

Alex was surprisingly ignored during most of the long and painful bus ride. He told himself that he was relieved at their lack of attention, denying the underlying feeling of loneliness. He let himself doze during the long ride, knowing that sleep wouldn't come often or soundly where he was headed. Though he'd originally thought he wouldn't be able to get any sleep on the loud, bumpy bus, he was exhausted and sore from the long day. Perhaps, not so surprisingly then, he slept rather soundly during their night-long travel.

Finally nearing the end of the journey, Alex was wide awake and studying the plain landscape out the window. He played back what had been announced on the bus, only half an hour ago.

'Can I have your attention, please?' The agent that spoke, finally got all of the teens' attention. He continued, 'Now listen up, in about an hour and a half we'll arrive at the military training camp.' Whispers and even a coupe of squeals of excitement were heard throughout the bus. Although the attack had happened only the day before, just about everyone seemed to have forgotten the danger and was excited to be going to a secret training camp. Alex mentally sighed at the immaturity. Once again the agent waited impatiently until he had everyone's attention, before he continued, 'You will train at the camp for three weeks, under the supervision of two of our best units. They are noted by letter, so half of you will be with K-Unit, the other half with D-Unit.'

_Of course._ Alex almost groaned as he thought back on the announcement. He figured he would be with K-Unit again. He still hadn't exactly made amends with the K-Unit, other than Ben. _So this should be a very… interesting reunion_.

Alex sat up straight as he noticed the bus slowing down. He glanced back out the window as they came to a stop. Near where the bus had pulled up, with fierce expressions on their faces, stood eight men, separated into two groups of four. Each man was carrying a duffle bag. _Here we go again! _thought Alex, while the agent motioned for everyone to get off the bus. As each teen got off, they were handed a sandwich and bottle of water, then directed to head over to the eight men. The students took the sandwich greedily; hungry from the long trip, but Alex just stuffed it into his pocket. He would eat it later when he was hungry; he didn't feel like he could stomach anything right at the moment.

Alex, the last to get off, moved quietly over to stand with the group. Warily, he stared at the men before him. They were glaring fiercely at the teens standing toward the front, talking loudly and practically inhaling their meal. They hadn't yet noticed Alex, standing quietly at the back. After a few minutes, the SAS men seemed to have had enough of the adolescents.

"Listen up!" Wolf growled. Most of the students didn't notice that Wolf had said anything and continued with their conversations.

"That's enough!" Wolf bellowed toward the group. Complete silence blew through the crowd. All eyes focused resolutely on Wolf now.

"When I speak- you don't. Clear?!"

"Yes, si—!" Alex abruptly cut himself off. He hadn't meant to answer like that, it was automatic. Most of the teens had merely nodded their head or whispered quiet noises of agreement. They all stared at Alex and then back to Wolf. Wolf heard the reply and looked around to find out who had said it. His eyes finally rested on Alex.

The spy in him noticed the subtle hints of shock and confusion in Wolf's eyes when he recognized Alex. The SAS man recovered quickly, no one else having noticed his reaction. Alex alone had been witness of his lapse in control.

"Boy! What's your name?"

"Alex Rider, sir."

"As you can see, Mr. Rider knows how to speak to authority. When I ask a question, I want a 'Yes, sir' or a 'No, sir.' If you have any serious problem you come see me, Lynx, or the agent that will be staying with us. But don't go whining on every time you get a sliver, or bump your toe being clumsy." Lynx had nodded at his name, and the agent that was mentioned walked to the front with a piece of paper in hand.

"Right, when I call out your name, I want you to go and stand over by D-Unit." The agent instructed, and began to list off the names.

"Clay, Felix, Jackson, Jessie, Lucy, Kendall Amber, Brice, Eli, and Sherman. If I didn't call your name, go stand with K-Unit." The group of teens split and went to stand in their designated areas. All the units set down their duffle bags and swiftly opened them.

"Line up to collect your uniform! You are to wear your issued uniforms every day. Only take them off if you have free time in your bunks. Do I make myself clear?" Lynx and Wolf started passing out uniforms they'd got from the duffels. When it was Alex's turn, he collected his uniform without making eye contact with anyone. He unfolded the material and started to put the uniform over his clothes. Everyone was looking around to see what to do with the bundle and, when they spotted Alex putting his on, they decided to follow his lead. He dressed without any trouble, and when he realized what he'd done and saw that everyone else had problems, he chastised himself for the lack of attention.

"Nice job, Ride." Wolf called, taking note that Alex was the only one that didn't have problems.

"Rider." Alex mumbled under his breath. But Wolf had caught it somehow.

"What did you say, kid?"

"Rider, Sir! My last name is Rider." He answered emotionlessly.

"Well _Rider_, that little outburst of yours just cost you about two miles more when we jog camp carrying our things. If you say _anything_ else that isn't necessary, then you'll get the privilege of carrying my bag on your lovely twelve mile jog." Alex felt anger rise up inside him, but didn't speak out again. Wolf smirked at him and then stepped back to speak to the now fully-uniformed teen group.

"As Mr. Rider was just told, you all are going to jog back to camp carrying your things. I would recommend going through your belongings now and leaving behind anything you don't think is truly necessary. This is a ten-mile jog. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" replied a few teens that had found their voice for once. Others just mumbled their yes sirs or just nodded their head.

"Good enough. D-Unit and the rest of K-Unit will lead you back to camp. Rider- you're with me." All eyes were on Alex. There were a few faces of sympathy, but most were smirking. Alex mentally sighed, and rephrased his assessment from the day before. _T__his is going to be an __**endlessly**__ long three weeks. _


	7. Daddyo Wolf

**A/N: Sorry everyone that I said that this would be out by Sunday! I broke my hand playing softball on Saturday, and my beta had a lot to do, so because I promised a few of you that this would be out on Sunday, I'm putting the 'edited to the best of my abilities' version out until the much better edited and all around better copy is in my hands so to speak. I know that there are plenty of typos this this chapter so bare with me as best as you can and if you do read any mistakes, they are greatly appreciated! Anywho, onto the story!**

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Chapter 7

The main group headed off with D-Unit leading and Snake, Eagle and a new guy named Leopard trailed behind to make sure no one was left behind. Once the group was out of sight, Wolf and Alex started off in another direction.

"It's longer than twelve miles." Alex said not as a question but as a fact.

"Yep." Replied Wolf. He smirked at Alex's not so cheery face.

They headed off going west and then they would cut north after about ten miles. Alex was carrying his stuff, which wasn't actually that heavy because he knew already what to bring, and he had to carry the extra uniforms.

"You look good Cub. What have you been doin' this summer?" Alex was quite surprised at this question while they were jogging through a narrow strip of forest. Alex glanced at Wolf. In between breaths he replied, "MI6 had me on a tight fitness schedule."

"Come on Cub. We have about fifteen miles left and I bet we will still get to camp faster than the brats, why don't you share? We can call this the fifteen mile show and tell."

"Well, if you really want to know, Monday's and Fridays were thirty laps around the track that is located in the bottom basement, then they I would get a ten minute break. I would then have to run on a treadmill while they hooked me up to an oxygen machine to test my stamina. Then they would take a blood sample. In the afternoon I would have Japanese classes.

"Tuesday's and Thursday's were Karate, Kickboxing, Italian, and weapon classes. Those were awesome. I got to learn how to make the most powerful weapons out of simple things. Of course I had to sign a waver saying that I wouldn't blow up MI6 or any government building of course. But the thought did cross my mind. But I do have to say, learning to shoot again was nice."

"Again Cub? The last time you where here, the agency wouldn't let you go through shooting practice." Alex bowed his head while keeping a steady pace on the path. They were nearing a fork in the trail, and Alex assumed that they would be taking the right. They veered to the right and continued on jogging at a steady pace.

"That's true. At the time I didn't know how to shoot but—" Wolf glared at Alex for the next couple of minutes. Alex thought over what he really wanted to say after a few minutes of quality thinking, he decided on another approach.

"MI6 as a whole may not have known that I knew how to truly shoot a gun before this summer, but if you were to dig deeper, then you would find that that isn't the case." "Who'd you shoot at?"

"Mrs. Jones." Alex replied quietly.

"The lady who is with that gray, Blunt man, that always sucks on a peppermint?"

"The one."

"Why did you want to kill her? I mean sure she works for the most gray guy in the entire world, and she may not be the nicest person in the world, but she hadn't done anything wrong that I can think of."

"I really don't want to talk about that at the moment." replied Alex while barely having to breath hard.

"How far have we gone so far Wolf?" Alex said while trying to change the subject.

"We have about six miles to go. Good try on trying to change the subject Cub. I won't push now, but we will continue to talk about this."

It wasn't till they had another mile and a half until Alex's chest started to hurt. He had sweat down his back from the heat of the day but that really didn't bother him. He had saved his bottle of water for this especially because he knew something like this would happen, and he had only just started to breath hard. Alex rubbed his bullet scar and some of the pain eased, but while rubbing it, he pressed right on it and to him it felt like a jolt of electricity shot through him. He quietly hissed in pain. Wolf glanced over at Alex, but he was to quick for Wolf to see that something wrong.

It took them about twenty-five minutes from the ten mile mark to get to camp. They ended up over by the shooting range. The slowly stopped over by an old pine tree, and because they didn't want their muscles to tense up, they walked around to ease the physical demand that they had just put on them.

"We did make good time." replied Alex while pulling out the sandwich that he had kept in his pocket. After the jog he was starting to get hungry.

"We need to get the Sergeant out here so he can deliver what today's agenda is and what the SAS expect." Alex smiled at this. He couldn't wait to see the face of the Sergeant when he saw the group of school children at his camp. His expression would be twenty times worse than when Alex had shown up on his doorstep.

"I'm not doing it," replied Alex as in no way is he going to get yelled at.

"Seeing as how you're not supposed to be here before everyone, I suggest we both go. It will make things less complicated."

"Have you like taken after Fox or something? Or have you just gone soft?" Wolf scowled. He stared at Alex before replying, "I have a kid Cub. Don't mess with me."

"I'm sorry daddy-o." Alex evilly grinned at this. Wolf just scowled at him once more. They started off at a fast pace to where the Sergeant's office was located. Wolf knocked on the door, and a deep voice replied, "Come in Wolf, Cub." They both stepped through the door, not surprised that the Sergeant knew who was at the door. Both Wolf and Cub saluted their superior officer.

"The brats here yet?" replied the Sergeant with a scowl. Alex was thoroughly enjoying every moment of this conversation.

"They are soon to arrive any minute now."

"Then how did you and Cub get here before the rest?" The Sergeant turned to look at Alex and then back at Wolf.

"He spoke out of line and got himself into a fifteen mile jog with the rest of the brats went on a ten mile jog."

"I see. Well Cub, I'm glad to see that you haven't slacked off any. Now, lets go yell at the brats shall we?" The Sergeant motioned for Wolf and Cub to follow him out the door.

"Sir," replied Alex, "I probably should go back to the shooting range and the meet everyone there. I'm already in hot water with the twenty other kids, I really don't need this else on my death list." The Sergeant nodded his head in that he understood the dilemma.

"Dismissed." He replied. Wolf and Alex headed out of the building in the opposite direction so they could loop around over by the shooting range.

Alex could see through the bushes that the D-Unit was making its way to the clearing in front of the Sergeant's building.

"Glad we didn't go that way." Alex said quietly to himself. They continued back behind the shooting range. Snake, Eagle, and Leopard noticed Alex and Wolf, but they didn't say anything. The Sergeant stood in front of the crowd of teens. All of the teens were breathing hard from the ten-mile jog. Once the Sergeant started speaking, Wolf and Alex appeared out from behind the shooting range and jogged to be with the group.

"I'm glad that you could join us—"

"Rider sir."

"I'm glad that you could join us Mr. Rider and my I ask where have you been?"

"I got into trouble sir, so I had to do two miles more."

"Well, because you were late, you get a weeks worth of Kitchen Duty. Let this be a lesson for the rest of you, lateness gets you killed."

"Yes sir." Alex mumbled.

"What did you say boy?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Good. Like I said before Mr. Rider cared to join us, we expect everyone to be on his or her best behavior and if you aren't then, like Mr. Rider, you will get punished. End of discussion. Another point, every one will get up at 0615. Because the men eat at 0600 hours, we don't want problems. Breakfast is at 0700 hours, lunch is at 1300 hours, and dinner is at 1830 hours. If you are in D-Unit's group, your bunks are number 4 and 5. While K-Unit's are 6 and 7. 4 and 6 are both boys' bunks. So, ladies, you have 5 and 7.

"I expect every bunk to be clean and tidy. No excuses. You are to do what you are told. No excuses. Lights are to be out by 2200 hours. If you have a problem, concern or complaint, take it up with your Unit leader. Report back here in one hour for further instructions. Oh, and Rider, I would like a word with you after everyone is dismissed. You seem to have an issue already with following the rules. You're dismissed." Wolf and Lynx started walking toward the bunks. Alex stayed behind waiting for the Sergeant to speak to him again. He didn't speak until all of the teen group was out of hearing range.

"Cub, what did you do to wind yourself back here?"

"Scorpia." replied Alex. The sergeant went wide-eyed in shock.

"What the hell did you do to piss of Scorpia?"

"Right now isn't the time. I'm guessing we're getting evaluated in an hour?" The Sergeant shook his head indicating yes.

"On what?" Alex replied.

"Mainly how fit everyone is. And yes, you have to do this too. Also, there is no need to restrain yourself. Everything that's being tested on will be elementary."

"Like?"

"Push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, sprints, reaction drills, swimming, and maybe instincts. That really depends on a couple of things. Anyway, I just wanted you to have a heads up on that. And one more thing, I want you to report here at 0030 hours for a seminar on gun control. Dismissed."

"Wait, how do you know that I know how to shoot a gun?"

"File. Again, you're dismissed."

"Thank you sir." Alex turned and jogged to his bunk.


	8. water water everywhere!

**A/N: WOW Guys! 101 reviews? Man, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now... Jeez. This is probably my longest chapter yet. So I hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 8

Alex got back to his bunk and when he opened the door, he was rushed with questions.

"So what you do now mate?"

"Was the Sergeant pissed off at you?" Alex motioned for everyone to be quiet. Silence ran throughout the bunk.

"I just got Kitchen Duty for being late, oh and also, we're being evaluated in about twenty minutes."

"On what?" replied Jackson looking concerned.

"They didn't tell me the specifics I'm just the messenger."

"Oh." They all said in unison. Alex scanned the bunk. It was a total mess.

"We might want to clean up a bit." Alex replied after sweeping his eyes for the third time. He received deer in the headlights looks from his bunkmates. He continued, "The SAS don't seem messy people and if you remember when we got off the bus, that if our bunks were messy, then they had the right to punish us." The others started to nod their head slowly starting to understand what he meant. They went around the room picking up this and that and stuffing it into their bags. Once the last person had just put their last thing into their bag, the door opened to see a not so happy Wolf.

Wolf started to walk down the aisle. "Attention!" He yelled. The boys didn't know what to do and they all glanced at Alex for some leadership. Alex sprinted to his bunk and stood up straight. The boys suddenly understood, so they rushed to their bunks as well.

"Good. I'm glad to see that you took our warning seriously. You are to report to where we were earlier this afternoon for an evaluation in five minutes. Bring a change of clothes if you know what's good for you. If you are late, you will be punished. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes Sir." The whole bunk replied.

"Good. Dismissed." Wolf walked out of the bunk with his hands behind his back. The six boys hustled around putting on shoes and what not and then they all rushed through the door to the practice area. Alex's bunk was the first bunk to arrive and the others followed promptly. They lined up in front of the sergeant waiting for further instructions. Once everyone was there including both K Unit and D Unit, the Sergeant began to speak.

"All right kiddies! Each of you are going to be evaluated on how fit you are. There will be three stations and the group leaders will evaluate you on how valuable you would be. The score works like this. You will be given a score 1-5 on how well or not so well you complete a specific thing, 1 being the worst and 5 the best. The highest score will determine where you are placed on a team. There will be seven groups of three with each group receiving a color. You and your partners need to work as a group at all of the activities that we have planed for you play each other's strengths and weaknesses. Remember you are a team. Also, you have a week to learn as much as you can. Once the week is up, every team will compete in the tournament that we have set up for you to help reinforce your learning. Are there any questions?"

A dark red headed boy with brown eyes spoke, "Sir? When's lunch?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really, no."

"Glad to see that we're on the same page."

"Does anyone have any essential questions? No? Good. I want everyone to divide into three groups of seven." Boys and girls were shifting around to form groups with their friends. Alex just stood around waiting until everyone was done so he could join the group that only had six people in it. His group made faces of disapproval that Alex was in their group with along with low growls that only Alex could hear.

"Good to see that you can count. Now, Group one, that's you lot," he said while pointing at Alex's group, "are going with Snake, Eagle and Leopard for a cold dip. Group two," this time he pointed at Jackson's group, "you lot are going for some wonderful physical evaluation with Wolf, Lynx, and Jaguar. While the third group gets to have fun with reaction drills, and how well you use your instincts with Bear, Jackal, and the government agent. Dismissed!" He said the last part with a slight amusement in the fact that the teens were going to go through hell.

Snake motioned for Alex's group to follow where Bear and his team just started to walk off. Alex started to head off not truly paying any attention because he already knew where he was going so it didn't matter if he got left behind or lost.

"Oh, and Rider! Get your ass over here. I need a word." Alex jogged to where the Sergeant was standing. He could vaguely hear snickers from his placement team.

"Sir, if we start making this a habit, my class mates will start to wonder…" replied Alex while making full eye contact with the Sergeant.

"That's hilarious Cub." He cracked a smile but then his face turned sour. "Good to see that the K-Unit and MI6 didn't scare off your sense of humor, five miles after dinner and after Kitchen Duty for that Cub. Where was I? Oh yes," he reached into his back pocket for a folded piece of paper. "Here is your extra curricular schedule. Like I said earlier, you are to report here at 0030 for a gun control seminar. Keep that hidden at all costs. We don't need to fill in any more blanks than necessary. It just makes it much more likely to screw up. Do I make myself clear?" Alex nodded his head.

"Good. You might want to go to your team."

"What do I say to them when they ask what you wanted?"

"Tell them it has to do with financial issues or something."

"Like they'll believe that." Alex grumbled in response.

"If you don't like my idea then fine! You're the spy here get creative!"

"Fine. Am I dismissed?"

"Yes." Alex sighed. _Great. Even more lies. I hate this._

"Get going Cub! You're way behind!" yelled Snake from the bank of the lake. Most of the teen group was already half way across the lake.

"Good to see you too Snake!" Alex yelled back. Alex jumped in the water right after taking off his uniform, shoes and socks. He was wearing his undershirt and boxers when he jumped in. A rush of icy water hit his body. His muscles tensed and his shivered, but he immediately started to swim so he wouldn't freeze to death. His scar was aching a little from the bitter cold, but Alex took that pain and tucked it away in the back of his mind for later. He noted that they were to swim to the far bank and back.

_Okay. What's the point of this again? _Thought Alex while using the crawl stroke. He was gaining ground quickly when he passed a girl that had light blond hair that turned a light brown while wet and light green eyes, named Hayley. Alex lifted his head fully and watched the girl. She was breathing really hard and her face was bright red.

"Hey, are you ok?" Alex questioned the girl while swimming back a stroke or two. Hayley continued to breathe really hard.

"No." she barely crocked out while ever so slightly shaking her head.

"Ok. I want you to listen to me ok Hayley? I'm going to come to where you are, and I want you to wrap your hands around my neck loosely. I'm going to continue to swim for the both of us. Don't kick just hang on. Do you understand me?" She slowly nodded.

"Ok. I'm coming over." He swam to where she was with his face out of the water.

* * *

"Jeez Cub." Replied Snake while shaking his head.

"He's really good at finding trouble isn't he?" replied Eagle while standing next to Snake. Both Snake and Eagle looked at Leopard.

"What?"

"Don't you have anything to say?" replied Eagle while crossing his arms.

"Sorry, never truly met the guy. I've just heard that he's been here before." Replied Leopard.

"Don't you have that gun control seminar tonight?" asked Snake to Leopard.

"no, why?"

"Oh well, he's going tonight."

"Wait, a fifteen year old is going to a gun control seminar?" Leopard looked dumbfounded.

"Yeah."

"But how? Why?"

"Man. You really are out of the loop." Snake replied while glancing at Leopard and then back at Alex. "The kiddies are on their way back."

"So how are we going to grade them?" replied Eagle.

"I was thinking the first two get fives, third and fourth get fours, fifth gets three, sixth gets two and then last gets one." Said Snake.

"Then what are we going to do about Cub?" replied Fox while stepping out from behind the huge oak tree where the three SAS soldiers were standing by.

"Good to see you Fox." Snake and Eagle said in unison.

"I never thought I would be back here again."

"How's MI6 treating you?" replied Eagle.

"Nothing special to tell you the truth. So what are we going to do with Cub? You can't just give him a grade of two because he was the second to last person. He was second to last because of the girl."

"We were just about to debate—" The first two teens were back breathing quite hard.

"That took you long enough!" yelled Leopard. "Newbie?" whispered Fox into Snake's ear. Snake slowly nodded. Fox grinned.

She wrapped her arms around Alex's neck and when Alex felt the warm contact around his neck, he immediately started to swim back to the far shore where they started. Alex's muscles strained from the extra weight, the temperature of the water, and his bullet wound, but he continued on anyway. He knew that the only way Hayley wouldn't drown from exhaustion was if Alex helped her.

"Alex. Why did you help me?" she replied in a small and weary voice. Alex didn't respond. He was to focused on getting back across the lake. Hayley didn't press because she could tell that he was focused on other things. She continued to float just above Alex's swimming body. He was about halfway back to the shore when he noticed that he and Hayley were the last ones in the water. _Damn it. _Alex said to himself inside his head.

"I'm really sorry Alex."

"For what?" Alex said quickly in between his heavy breathing. Hayley wasn't expecting a reply.

"For basically making you help me and because of that making you last."

"No—Big—Deal—" He replied each word in between breathes. He was getting closer and closer to shore, but with every stroke, his body was retaliating. He was probably a good thirty yards from shore.

"Hayley—can—you—make—it— back—?"

"I think so."

"Let—go—on a— count—of—three. One—Two—Three." Hayley released her grip from around Alex's neck and slowly started to swim towards shore. Alex continued at the same pace as when he was with Hayley, but his breathing wasn't as forced as it was. Hayley made it back to shore before Alex did. The three, now four, SAS soldiers gave Alex a very sympatric look. Snake, Eagle and Fox all slowly and indistinctly nodded their heads in approval. Leopard just glanced at the teen.

"All right everyone! Since you're finished with this evaluation, please put on your change of clothes if you brought some with you quickly, and then head back to the open field. You will be evaluated with physical fitness next. Oh, and make sure you're not late. Or else Wolf will have your head."

* * *

Question 1:

**What do you think will happen next? What will Wolf do?  
**


	9. Shuto this Shuto that

**WUHAHAHAHA I am back to make everyone of you miserable!! WUHAHAHA!! you're welcome. FYI, the scene that is about to take place in the following chapter is originally owned by JK Mafia that I changed to fit my scenario. (Hers is way better! *grins*) I just really enjoyed it, and I found that it worked well. So, most of the credit for this chapter goes to JKM. Loveya!!!!  
**

**Disclaimer: FYI, if I was Anthony Horowitz, I wouldn't be writing here I would be making money off this. By the way, I'm female. (I think grins JK!)**

Chapter 9

Alex's group made the mile long trip back up the hill to where they found Wolf, Lynx, and Jaguar standing there, looking impatient. These three men were the toughest guys at the SAS at the moment, and they weren't letting up any time soon.

"Listen up brats!" Wolf growled once everyone from the group was present. "This is physical fitness evaluation. You are ours for forty minutes. Don't ask 'what time is it?' or 'can I go to the restroom?' or any other stupid questions like that because we will answer with punishment duty. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" They all yelled.

"Good. We will start with push-ups and sit-ups. You will be timed on how fast you are to complete fifty of each." Wolf pulled his stopwatch from his pocket. Lynx was standing next to him with a clipboard in hand.

"Once you have done your fifty push-ups, state your first name. Then wait for everyone to finish and no girly push-ups. Ready, set, go!" Everyone started doing their push-ups, everyone did pretty well Felix, Hayley, and Hayley's best friend Alexis started off well until they hit about seven, then everything went down hill for them. Duncan and Paxton both did well until they hit about thirty before they started to get tired. They were football players so most of their muscle was in their legs. Then you had Marcus and Alex. Marcus was on the wrestling team, so push-ups were a breeze for him. While push-ups for Alex were also a breeze, but after all that swimming that he did for two people was really taking a toll on Alex. Even though he had daily summer routines, the fifteen miles, swimming that long and hard, and then plus what ever was in store for him for the rest of the day was affecting him grotesquely. Alex and Marcus finished their push-ups at about the same time, Alex finishing first, and they both said their names to Lynx.

"If the rest of them don't finish the rest of their push-ups in two minutes, then they will get one point and move on." replied Jaguar this time. He was getting quite bored. Jaguar picked up his canteen and took a sip, but spilling some of it down the front of his shirt.

"Man, you have a serious drinking problem." replied Alex with a smirk on his face. Wolf and Lynx glanced over at Jaguar's scowl and they both smirked along side of Alex.

"Thank you Rider for that wonderful comment. I'm sure an extra day of Kitchen Duty will suffice." replied Jaguar. Alex glanced over at Wolf. Wolf winked back at him.

"All right you pathetic brats! If you didn't finish the push-ups, then you get one point. Lets move onto sit-ups. Everyone pair up. One person per group fifty on my mark. Go!" Wolf retorted to the group of teens.

Alex ended up by himself because there were seven in the group. He was off with the first group doing sit-ups without anyone holding his feet. Once Alex had reached about thirty-five sit-ups, his scar began to burn again. _This is hell! _screamed Alex inside his head. He slowed down his pace after he reached about forty-five. His breath wasn't as strained as some of the others, but he was still breathing quite hard. He finished his fifty in about three minutes with Jaguar giving him disconcerting glares while Wolf's were the exact opposite.

"At least there's one person in decent shape." bellowed Wolf after the first group had gone. "Second group." Wolf paused about half a minute so the two groups could switch off. "On my mark. Go!" The second group was off with Marcus and Paxton pretty much neck and neck. Marcus finished a second ahead of Paxton in the end. Lynx nodded his head in approval. Alexis was the last to finish, and Wolf allowed them a couple of minutes for a breather.

Lynx smiled with joy with the thought on what they were going to do next. "Sprint time kiddies!" he continued to smirk with joy. Wolf glanced at the clipboard that Lynx was holding at his hip.

"Lets see here," he took the clipboard away from Lynx's hand. "Uhm, you missy," he pointed at Hayley. "get the honors of going first." Hayley bowed her head and walked to the dirt line that Lynx had just made with the tip of his shoe.

"You are to run to the nearest pole and back." replied Lynx this time taking control of this section of the test under his wing. "Go!" he yelled. She sprinted off at a respectable pace; being not the fastest, but wasn't extremely slow. Alex noticed that her velocity was decreasing just after she touched the pole. She was obviously getting tired. She made it back in five minutes flat. Once she made it over the line, she immediately doubled over with her hands on her knees panting. Everyone went through and the last person to go was Alex.

"Ready. Set." The timer clicked to life. Alex took off on a full sprint to the pole. His hair was streaming back and a little damp with sweat. It didn't take him long to reach the pole, but once he did, he touched the pole, and sprinted back to the starting point. About half way back, his muscles started to burn. But once his body felt the burn of the muscles, his brain started reliving all of his missions where he was running for his life. This had never happened before, but some how, after all the emotional strain of being back at Brecon Beacons, the physical demands that they wanted of him, which wasn't that big of a deal, but it was some how a factor, and then the pressure of his classmates, sparked the flashbacks that his 'shrink' warned him about.

Flashbacks from running on the runway from the men on four wheelers with guns in their hands, or going down a mountain on a ironing board, were just a few examples of the mental breakdown that he was going through. He couldn't keep them out of his mind it became so bad, that he was even in the same mindset as he was during the missions.

He reached the starting/finishing point and once he had crossed it, he started to slow down but his mind continued to play back his missions.

"Rider." Wolf said to get Alex's attention.

"Rider!" He shouted this time.

"Rider!!" Wolf bellowed for the third time. But Alex still wasn't paying any attention. Wolf started to get concerned. Wolf whispered something in Lynx's ear and then Lynx repeated Jaguar's instructions to him. They both slowly nodded. Wolf started to head over to where Alex was while Lynx made the rest of the group leave so they could go to their last test. Shouts of protest were ringing in the air because they were all reluctant to leave either because they were curious on what was the matter with Alex, or sympathetic of the pain that was expressed on his face. Hayley in particular was very sympathetic and not to mention worried because there was something wrong with her 'savior', that's what she was calling him at the moment.

Once the last person was out of site, Lynx sprinted down the hill to send for Snake and Eagle. Jaguar on the other hand was sent to the office to make a call to Fox and alert the Sergeant.

Wolf continued to shout Alex's last name, but it obviously wasn't getting Wolf anywhere. When Wolf finally got to here Alex was, Wolf whispered 'Cub' into his right ear.

"Cub." Wolf replied for the second time.

'_Cub.' _Alex heard inside his head. His mission memories changed to memories of his first visit to Brecon Beacons.

"Wolf." He breathed out a sigh.

"Come on Cub." Wolf softly pushed Alex towards their bunk but Alex wouldn't move. Alex's eyes hardened again when another memory appeared before him, but this time he became defensive.

"Cub. Come on." He pushed a little harder this time, but Alex reacted on instinct. Alex shot out with a Shuto to the neck, but Wolf blocked with trouble. Wolf saw the look in Alex's eyes. They were completely icey brown and with out any innocence left in them.

"Damn MI6." Alex attacked for a second time but this time Wolf barely got out of the way. Wolf was now off balance. Alex saw that Wolf was off balance and so he punched him in the solar plexus. Wolf doubled over and was out of breath.

"God Cub!" Wolf took a few steps back. Alex was watching Wolf waiting for an attack. He wasn't receiving one, so Alex charged forward with a sidekick to the ribs. Wolf didn't react in time to the sidekick and ended up with two of his ribs broken. He fell to his knees and his breath became very labored. Right at that time, Snake and Eagle came into view. Snake and both Eagle saw Wolf first on his knees and then they spotted Alex hovering over Wolf. From a distance, they saw Alex spring out with a punch to the Temple.

"CUB NO!!" they both screamed. His fist made contact with the temple and Wolf fell to the ground unconscious.

"Cub!" They both yelled again. They continued to yell while running towards the pair.

"What were you thinking?" Eagle said once they got there. Alex saw the two of them and then attacked.

"What the hell Cub? It's us! Snake and Eagle!" They replied while trying to dodge the punches that were thrown their way.

"No, you can't be them. They died like the rest of my friends. I know that cause Scorpia killed them!" Cub's expression hardened and his brown eyes turned icy.

"What?" They both looked at Cub and then at each other.

"Cub! It's really us! Snap out of it!" Snake said while trying to defend himself from a Roundhouse kick that was aimed for his temple. Snake barely blocked the kick, but from the sheer power of the kick made him stumble backwards then fall down. He quickly picked himself up off the ground so he could defend himself again.

"Cub! Listen to us!" replied Eagle with a hint of pleading in his voice. Alex took a couple of steps forward. That made him close enough to Snake so he could knock him out.

"I'm sorry Cub. But this is for your own good." Snake punched Alex in the temple. Before Alex could completely fall to the ground, Eagle caught the unconscious boy.

"Cub what did they do to you?" replied Eagle while holding the unconscious boy.

"Eagle, take Cub back to the bunk and stay with him. Wolf needs medical attention." Eagle nodded his head. He lifted the boy effortlessly and craddled him in his arms while walking back to K-Unit's bunk.

* * *

**Love me, hate me absolutely can't stand me so after reading this chapter you throw down the towel and reply "this is so bad that I have to tell the author to quiet writing!" **

**I would love to hear from you no matter what the case.**

**Pondering question: How will Wolf take to finding out about Alex's bullet wound? How does Leopard, Hayley, Fox, and Agent Freedbush come into all of this? and Finally, Evil question, who is the Scorpia agent at the camp?**


	10. living shit

**Here we go guys!!!! I guess you can call this a filler chapter, but a lot happens in it. Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed! It means so much! Anyway, enjoy chapter 10!  
**

Chapter 10

Alex woke with a start. His head was throbbing, and his flashbacks popped in and out of his vision, which made him slightly dizzy. Using his elbows, he propped himself up to take in his surroundings. Three men rested against a bunk parallel to his own, and then another was resting above the three on the bunk. They were all surrounding the center man who had a clipboard in hand along with a pen. They were quietly arguing amongst themselves.

_Wolf, Snake, Eagle, and Fox. _Alex sighed with relief. Dim light came through the window and fading with every minute that passed by. Snake glanced up from the heated conversation that had seized hold of the men. "Good to see you Cub." replied Snake. Wolf, Eagle and Fox looked up as well.

"Damn Cub! You scared the living shit out of me!" replied Wolf.

"I didn't know shit was living." Alex made a face as if he was pondering that statement and then smirked. Wolf smirked as well. Snake slowly got to his feet and walked over to where Alex lay. He put his hand to Alex's forehead to check for a temperature, promptly checking his pulse, and then pulled out a small flashlight from his cargo pants and shinned it in his eyes.

"Glad to see that you're pupils aren't dilated any longer. So, for the most part you're healthy but there's your PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and then…" he trailed off. He glanced at Alex's chest and Alex followed his eyes to where his bullet wound scar lay hidden under his white shirt.

"Oh."

"Care to explain?" replied Snake while sitting down on the end of the bed. He held his gaze at Alex with a questionable look.

"Explain what?!" barked Wolf while getting to his feet in anger and frustration. He took a step towards Alex and Snake.

"Are you going to tell him before he goes into one of his many paternal rampages, or should I?" Snake's eyes twinkled with concern and inquisitiveness. Alex didn't put forth any effort to speak. Snake glanced at Wolf and then rested his eyes on Alex. He took the silence as his answer so he continued.

"Cub got shot."

"What?!" Wolf bellowed. Eagle slowly stood up while tucking the pen in his pocket and folding the clipboard under his arm.

"I got shot." replied Alex while slowly spinning around so his legs dangled over the side of the bunk. Wolf gave Alex a scornful look and while Alex attempted to continue, "It's not that bad. It was almost a year ago and besides—"

Wolf almost screamed at the top of his lungs while cutting Alex off, "I'm still comprehending the shot part. Damn it Cub!" Wolf shook his head in disbelief. He turned to face Fox who was just watching the whole scene pan out. "Did you know about this Fox?" Fox glanced up at Wolf and then slowly got to his feet as well.

"I did. I was his summer training program adviser." Wolf growled in annoyance.

"Whose the bastard that shot you?" By now, Wolf's facial expression looked like a Wolf.

"Not sure really. Some Scorpia sniper." replied Alex while shrugging like the incident was nothing important.

"Scorpia? You're telling me that you pissed off Scorpia? Damn, where did you get shot? The leg? Arm?"

Snake intervened. "No, I would say about three centimeters from the heart." Alex cringed from the glare that he was receiving from Wolf. Wolf's face turned red with anger while his eyes showed with sympathy and a paternal look.

"Cub," Wolf replied while trying to calm down and get an explanation from the teenager. "You didn't find the need to tell us this because?"

"It slipped my mind?" replied Alex while trying to see if that excuse would work. He dipped his eye contact and decided that his bare feet were quite interesting.

"What meds are you taking?" replied Snake while producing a serious expression.

"None at the moment." Wolf and Snake both sighed.

"Man, it's like having two mother's taking care of one cub!" Eagle and Fox both snorted in amusement.

"Glad to see this amuses you guys, but seriously cub, any physical therapy at all?"

Fox intervened this time. "I tried to get Blunt to look into medication and therapy, but he didn't believe that Alex needed it. I also think that there were political reasons as well, but I don't have that kind of clearance yet."

"Well at least you had some kind of conditioning." Snake said in a tone that expressed that he wasn't at all pleased with that decision.

"Cub, look at me." Alex didn't immediately turn to look at Snake.

"Alex." Alex slowly turned his head. Alex's sad cold brown eyes met Snake's.

"When was the last time the scar bothered you?"

"What time is it?" Alex asked. Eagle looked at his watch.

"ten after eight."

"When I was sprinting." Wolf growled.

"You didn't find the need to tell me that there was something wrong?"

"It's one of those types of pains that you tuck away in the back of your mind for later."

"That's really comforting Cub." Snake said in disgust.

"So where are you going to put me when it comes to teams?" Alex replied out of curiosity and to change the subject.

" Nice job changing the subject. This won't be the last time we discuss this Cub. But because I think we have other subjects to touch on, then I won't tell you the color, you'll find out with the rest of your classmates, but I will tell you that you're a team leader." Snake replied while making a mental note to continue the conversation on a later date seeing as they had three weeks to talk.

"I don't think everyone will be happy with that idea. They'll start to wonder if I have connections here."

"Nah, if they do ask why you're a team leader and they whine that you didn't finish the evaluation, you have my permission to say that you did." Wolf replied while taking the clipboard away from Eagle and glancing over the names that were printed on the sheets of paper.

"You might as well go get something from the Kitchen Aids. They probably won't be happy about it, but I'm sure that they'll give you something. You still have a gun control seminar that you can't miss." Alex checked his watch and then his stomach growled.

He slowly got to his feet prepared for how his body would react. His feet held under him, but he tensed from stiffness. All four men were watching him, making sure that his knees didn't buckle under him. He slipped his feet into his trainers that were stationed by the door, and walked to the dinning hall.

Once the Kitchen Aids reluctantly gave Alex something to eat, and he had finished the small meal of bread, cheese, and an apple in the dinning hall by himself. He didn't have anything else to do, seeing as he had about three and a half hours to burn before the seminar. At about nine thirty one of the Units stormed into the dinning hall. They were covered in mud, twigs and small leaves that they hadn't brushed off their uniforms. They spotted Alex sitting on one of the table benches speaking to himself in Russian. They all smirked when they saw him because they thought it would be fun to poke at one of the kiddies.

"Hey kiddie." The obvious leader of the unit replied.

"What do you want?"

"Touchy touchy. What are you doing here kiddie? Do you miss your mummy? Do you want a warm bottle of milk and a blanket?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I kind of do. I haven't seen my mum in fourteen years, oh and I would rather not deal with SAS scum like the likes of you."

"Is that a threat kiddie? Because my mate here Dragon is a black belt in just about every martial art out there."

"That's nice." Once he said that, Alex switched to Japanese. "Would you please tell your jack ass unit leader that I really don't want to deal with him tonight. I'm rather quite tired, and I have more important things to do." Dragon looked dumbstruck. Alex switched back to English. Dragon relied the message back to the leader.

"What's your name boy?" replied the unit leader while taking a few steps toward Alex.

"Alex Rider. But the units who know of me call be Cub."

"Never heard of you." The leader replied.

"Is there a problem men?" replied the Sergeant while walking through the doors. He spotted Alex and continued to walk farther into the dinning hall.

"Ah Cub, Wolf told me you would be here. Come, there's something that I need to talk to you about." Alex followed the Sergeant out the door and into the yard that was in front of the dinning hall. They continued onward to the Sergeant's office.

"So what is it that you need to talk to me about?"

"Nothing. I just thought you might need some help. I know you could handle the men on your own, but I didn't want a relapse of what happened earlier today."

"What unit was that anyway?"

"S-Unit. I'd be careful around them. They're the next toughest unit next to yours. You're treading on thin ice. So always stay on guard."

"Where is the seminar this evening?" Alex replied remembering that that was next on his agenda for the night.

"It's on training field two. A-Unit is hosting it. Let see here, it's 2215 hours. Do you have your time table with you?" Alex reached into his pocket and pulled it out. He handed it to the Sergeant. He looked it over. "Just remember to meet me here at 0530 hours for shooting range practice. Go ahead and start walking over to field two. If you walk, it'll take you about forty-five minutes to and hour to get there. So you might as well go." Alex nodded his head. He turned away from the Sergeant, and started to head to his bunk. He needed to grab something before he headed off toward the field.


	11. Guns, fists, and trainers

**SORRY!!! I'm so sorry that I didn't update sooner! I really really mean it! I did Nanowrimo so I focused on that. To make it up to you, I made it a lot longer. Also, the scene in chapter 9 where Alex has a lovely psychotic break and he starts experiencing flashbacks, that isn't my original idea. I just thought I would let everyone know!!**

Chapter 11

On the way back from the seminar, everything that had been said rolled through his mind.

_"Attention!" yelled the leader of A-unit. The racket from the mob of SAS soldiers slowly settled down to where only few whispers and murmurs where heard._

_"Good." He replied to his earlier command. "Glad to see we're all on the same page. I'm Lion, this is Frog, Raptor, and Rat. Frog here is going to make sure everyone is here so we can get started."_

_"Do we have everyone from C-unit?" Lion replied while looking at the hand-written list. He then glanced up to make eye contact with the leader of the group._

_"Aye." Replied a man that had a heavy Irish accent to his voice._

_"Good." He glanced down at the list again to see who was next._

_"E, F, and G-unit?"_

_"Yes." The three units replied simultaneously._

_"From K-Unit, Cub, and then from D-Unit, Jaguar?"_

_"Here sir." Replied Alex. Everyone turned toward him. Even the men from A-unit scanned the group to find the owner of the voice. The volume of whispers and murmurs increased after the men found the owner of the voice. Lion took no notice of the disturbance in the crowd, so he motioned for Frog to continue._

_"Where is Jaguar?" he replied while once again searching the crowd._

_"Cub, where's your unit mate?"_

_"Not sure. I haven't seen him—"_

_"I'm here." Replied Jaguar while walking up from the dark side of the hill. His dark shady complexion camouflaged him and if he was a killer, night would have been his best cover._

_"You're late." Lion replied in a serious monotone._

_"I realize that. The brats wouldn't go to sleep and I was relieved late." He replied while ending his sentence where if words were like daggers, they would have murdered someone easily. Jaguar glanced over at Alex with an icy glare that would have penetrated bone._

_"I'm assuming P, T and Z units are here as well?" Lion replied in place of Frog. "Good." He cleared his throat._

_"To fire, the you insert a loaded magazine, move the selector lever to the lowest position, pull back and release the charging handle, aim, and then pull the trigger." He took out his gun to show what he meant.  
In this setting, the firearm fires only once in a semi-automatic, requiring the trigger to be released and depressed again for the next shot. With the selector in the middle position in a full-automatic, the rifle continues to fire, automatically cycling fresh rounds into the chamber, until the magazine is exhausted or pressure is released from the trigger." He stopped there and Raptor continued talking._

_" As each bullet travels through the barrel, a portion of the gases expanding behind it is diverted into the gas tube above the barrel, where it impacts the gas piston. The piston, in turn, is driven backward, pushing the bolt carrier, which causes the bolt to move backwards, ejecting the spent round, and chambering a new round when the recoil spring pushes it back.(1) I'm not actually going to shoot it—" He took the gun apart effortlessly and showed the pieces of the gun to reinforce what he had just said. He stepped back for Frog to continue._

_"Dismantling the rifle involves the operator depressing the magazine catch and removing the magazine. The charging handle is pulled to the rear and the operator inspects the chamber to verify the weapon is unloaded. The operator presses forward on the retainer button at the rear of the receiver cover while simultaneously lifting up on the rear of the cover to remove it. The operator then pushes the spring assembly forward and lifts it from its raceway, withdrawing it out of the bolt carrier and to the rear. The operator must then pull the carrier assembly all the way to the rear, lift it, and then pull it away. The operator removes the bolt by pushing it to the rear of the bolt carrier; rotating the bolt so the camming lug clears the raceway on the underside of the bolt carrier and then pulls it forward and free." Just like the rest of the Unit, he showed step by step with dismantling the rifle. (2)" Finally, Rat continued._

_" When cleaning, the operator will pay special attention to the barrel, bolt face, and gas piston, then oil lightly and reassemble. (3)" He explained what to look for when cleaning and he demonstrated how to do it._

_"Are there any questions?" Lion replied while scanning the small group of men._

_"No? Then you men are dismissed." Small clapping was heard in thank you, while others turned to leave. Alex turned and left._

Alex came out of the pensive like state when he heard a tree branch snap. He slightly jumped; his senses on full alert. He continued walking because half of his mind told him it was nothing, while the other half of him was telling him that it wasn't just a coincidence. He heard another tree branch snap right behind him again so this time he turned around and shined his flashlight on Jaguar. Alex sucked in a gulp of air to calm down his racing heart.

"What the freak Jaguar? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I don't see why not. With your condition, I bet you're at a higher risk than I am."

"How did you…?" Alex replied while deeply trying to figure out how Jaguar knew." Jaguar rolled his eyes. "Is the spy really that stupid? Because if he is I feel really safe knowing that the worlds' fate had been put into his hands." Jaguar smirked at his sense of humor.

"Glad you're having fun." Alex turned to continue walking, but Jaguar wrenched Alex back.

"I'm not done talking to you."  
"But I am you." Alex turned around again and attempted to take another step. He was wrenched back for the second time and then punched in the gut. Alex, his breathe knocked out of him, sputtered on the ground on his hands and knees. He coughed and he could faintly taste the metallic taste that he has gotten used to tasting every so often. He shakily got to his feet once more, but what brutally knocked back down with a roundhouse kick to his ribs. He could tell that the force had broken a couple of ribs, but he got back up for the third time. Jaguar threw a punch towards Alex's face, but this time, he was ready for it. He blocked the punch, and delivered his own defensive move in reply. Jaguar dodged the blow easily, then once again delivered a front snap to the throat. Alex blocked it successfully, but not without a heavy price to pay to the back of his lower arms. Alex stumbled back a couple of feet and tripped over a small rock into the trunk of a tree. He slid down the tree covered in blood. Jaguar steeped in front of him.

"If you say anything to anybody, you will pay more than you did here. Do I make myself clear?" Alex didn't reply. "Do I make myself clear boy?" he replied in a harsher tone and more brutal than he did the first time. Alex slowly nodded his head in defeat, making the smarter move in not antagonizing him anymore than he by some means had.

"Good." Jaguar replied while turning to leave. Alex watched Jaguars figure leave his sight, while breathing quite hard. He waited a couple minutes more before slowly picking up his aching and bleeding body. He picked up the flashlight that he had dropped, and checked to see if it was still working. He flipped the switch a couple of times but nothing happened. He sighed and then continued to walk back to his bunk. He looked at his watch right before he opened the door. _1:45. Damn._ He slowly opened the door enough where he could inch through and then he shut it behind him. Thankfully his bunk was the nearest to the door that he came through, so he quietly unlaced his trainers, and threw off the uniform. He quietly went through his clothes searching for some tape to set his ribs. He didn't find any, so he used the white shirt that he had just worn and rapped it around the section of his rib cage. He tied it off tightly with a small grunt of pain. He grinded his teeth in pain, and frustration because he was stupid enough not to bring his first aid kit with him to camp. He slowly laid himself onto the cot making sure that he was in a comfortable position so that he wouldn't mess up his efforts at setting his ribs, and fell into a painful and dreamless sleep.

Alex woke up about two hours and forty-five minutes later to his watch going off. He jolted up suddenly, while twisting the wrong way. He hissed in pain, and then got up slowly to try and not cause him any more pain than what he was already going through. He could hear snores and two people turned over in their beds. _I've got to be more careful._ He covered his left arm over temporary set and got to work putting on a shirt. He took out the second uniform, the second pair of trainers so the first pair could dry, a new pair of boxers, and a towel. He set off to the bathhouse for a quick shower. Once there, it was completely empty, so he took a shower. Before getting under the hot water, he slowly and painfully took off the set so he could inspect the collateral damage and clean out from underneath it. Once he untied it, he got into the shower. He washed his hair, and inspected the purple and blue bruises all over his body. Once he did that, he washed away the dry blood and sweat the was glued to his body and took a small look at the huge purple and blue bruise that ran up the inside of his arm, and all the way down to about three inches below his rib cage.

"Damn it." he hissed. He slowly stepped out of the shower and rapped the towel around his waist. He slipped on the new pair of boxers, and the white t-shirt that he wore on the way to the bathhouse. Before putting on the uniform, he searched around the laundry room for some kind of first aid kit. Thankfully he found one, and he slid off the shirt again. He opened up the plastic box and found a set of settings that molded to shape his body after reacting with water. He then found some heavyset gauze to keep them in place. He slowly wetted both of the sets and placed the first one on while having the gauze ready in the other hand. Once he had enough tension to hold the first set on between holding the gauze and the spindle, he placed the second one while making sure that it was wet enough. He found that it was, and then he rapped himself tightly while using all of it.

Once he checked to make sure it was firm and it wouldn't slide around, he pulled his shirt back on and continued to get dressed. He looked at his watch to find that it was five twenty, so he bundled up his towel and boxers and put them in a corner where no one would notice them. He then left out of the bathhouse to the firing range.

When he got there, it was right at five thirty on the dot.

"You really do know how to make an entrance." Replied Lion while looking Alex up and down. "You look like hell Cub. Man what happened to you?"

"Tripped." Alex avoided Lions eyes.

"Right. I won't push, but you do realize that this is a federal offense right?"

"I told you, I tripped. I don't see how that is a federal offense Lion." Alex attempted to get passed him.

"Wait a second, you're not going any where near the range looking like that."

"I'm fine Lion. Thank you for being concerned." Alex attempted for the second time to get by the blond headed, freckled faced man.

"Cub, I know you didn't trip, and you know you didn't trip. Believe me. If you don't want to tell me, fine. But for your welfare, you're not going to be firing a gun with the reverberations against your body. I won't let you do it." Lion replied sternly.

"Fine." Lion patted Alex on the back. Alex took a deep breath in pain.

"There are a few things I need to do today Cub. See you later." Lion started to walk off towards his bunk. Alex stood there wondering what he was going to do. He took a step and found that he mindlessly started to head toward the infirmary.

* * *

(1) (2) (3) Most of that is copied straight off of Wikipedia. It made perfect since to me and I didn't see that there was any reason to change it other than to fit the conversation.


	12. I hate heights!

**A/N: You guys don't know how good it feels to finally finish this chapter. Man. I feel like it has taken me weeks. (Actually it has sadly...) I really want to apologize for not updating sooner. I really really mean it and believe me I have all of these excuses that I could say, but we would be here all day and you all would be dead as door nails.**

**On a brighter note, I would like to thank all of the reviewers who reviewed last chapter for the first time, and everyone who is a regular. 218 reviews?? Guys that's like amazing. You have no idea how thankful I am.**

**Sorry to keep you waiting!**

**Here's chapter 12.**

Chapter 12

After Alex coaxed the guy for some pain meds, and then eating at the mess hall, he waited in the open field for the rest of his classmates. He waited for about a half hour until the first signs of life started to appear before him. Most of the class arrived in twos or threes while staring at Alex and giving him curious looks.

"Hey Alex! Didn't see you at breakfast! Did you receive an urgent phone call from the government?" replied Marcus with a sneer on his face. Snickers and giggles were heard throughout the group.

"There seems to be a hilarious joke going around. I love a good laugh!" replied Wolf while coming up behind the group to teens. The whole crowd grew silent.

"Oh, ok, I guess it must have not been that funny of a joke then." The other nine soldiers and the agent from MI6 stepped in line with Wolf. Each of them except for the agent, Fox, and Jaguar were holding a colored bandana.

"We," Wolf motioned the nine soldiers and himself, "as a group have came to a conclusion on what the groups shall be. When I call out a color, I will recite your mentor and then list the three of you who are in a group. I will only say this once so you better pay attention. When your name is called, go and collect your bandana." He scanned the small group of teens for anyone who didn't understand. Whispers and nods of understanding littered the group.

"For the green group, your mentor is Snake. Jessie, Anthony, and Marcus step forward and Marcus is the team captain." The three teens stepped toward Snake and received their bandanas. Anthony and Marcus tied theirs around their upper arms while Jessie tied hers around her ponytail.

"For the blue group," he continued, "your mentor is Lynx. Felix, Kendall, and Paxton step forward. Paxton is team captain." All three of them simultaneously stepped through the small crowd to receive their bandanas.

"For the red group, your mentor is Eagle. Lucy, Andrew, and Clay step forward. Clay is team captain." Right after he stated the red group, he immediately continued the roll right into the yellow group.

"For the yellow group, your mentor is Bear. Alexis, Jackson, and Sherman step forward. Sherman is team captain." Wolf paused for a couple of seconds. He quickly glanced at the three teens that had just went up to collect their bandanas. He then glanced back down at the sheet of paper that he held before him and continued reading.

"For the black group, your mentor is Jackal. Duncan, Brice, and Shelby. Shelby is team captain." Shelby had a curious look on her face that also had a hint of surprise. She didn't expect to be noted as one of the captains.

"For the purple group, your mentor is Leopard. Amber, Eli, and Sam step forward. Sam is team captain." There was a small murmur building within the crowd because some of them had done the math. There was only one group left, Alex's name hadn't been called, and there was still two girls left.

"And finally for the orange group, which are with me, Alex, Hayley, and Emma." Hayley and Emma both hesitantly walked up while Alex stood in place.  
"Alex is the team captain." Continued Wolf. Alex then slowly walked up towards Wolf to receive his bandana.

"I don't understand." Alex whispered where Wolf could only hear.  
"You'll see." Replied Wolf. Alex headed back to where he was standing.

After Wolf finished, Lynx cut in, "Ok, we're going to start the day off with a run through the assault course to test how well you can already work with your teammates. Then, seeing as we are required to give you a midday meal, we will break for lunch. Finally, we will separate four groups for self-defense, and then the other three will learn first aid and then switch. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir yes sir!" the group yelled after learning that that was the better move.

"Good." Lynx replied.

"Teams, find your mentor and then follow him." Emma and Hayley weren't very far from where Alex was standing. They were talking to each other.

"I can't believe that we got put with the worst mentor in the entire world of mentors!" Emma retorted. Alex silently grinned at that. "Then, we get put with the worst looser in the entire world!" she continued.

"Yes, but that looser saved my life thank you very much." Hayley retorted back in defense.

"Oh there you are Alex! We were just talking about you."

"We probably should go find Wolf before we get some kind of punishment seeing as he's the worst mentor in the entire world." Emma stared at Alex and had lost her happy cheery persona. Alex acted like he took no notice of her change in mood. He actually inwardly smiled at his cleverness. The small group started to walk towards Wolf was in the center of the clearing where he had moved so his group could find him.

"Took you long enough." He said grudgingly.

"Come one pipsqueaks, we've got a long day head of us." He started to briskly walk towards the assault course. The three teens hesitantly stood in place for a few seconds before realizing that they were to follow Wolf. They jogged to keep up with the soldier.

When they reached the beginning of the assault course, Wolf began to speak again, "You better work as a team. When you get the horn, you three are to work as a team to finish it. The first four teams done won't have to do it over again. The last three will have to do it all over again until you either come in first, or you're the last ones and if that happens, you better have a good excuse. Do you read me loud and clear?" The three teens nodded.

"Wolf—" Alex was cut off by the horn. Alex, Emma and Hayley sprinted off for a one kilometer run before the actual course started. Hayley started to lose her speed when they finally reached the true beginning. The first obstacle was to climb up and over the wall.

"Hayley, Emma, use the foot holds and the rope to climb up. I'll be right behind you." Hayley didn't reply back to his tip, while Emma grunted with disapproval. After slipping a few times because of the mud on the bottom of their shoes, both and Emma and Hayley made it up. Alex was right behind him breathing hard in pain.

The next thing they had to do was cross the wooden planks that connected this wall with the other. Underneath them was a huge thing of mud so if you fell off, you would be coated head to toe.

They really changed it up on us. Alex thought while watching Hayley and Emma inch across the plank of wood. Alex started after them, and when he started across, his weight hitting the board shook it a tad. Emma wobbled back and forth before losing her balance all together and falling into the mud pile. Alex silently swore under his breath.

"Emma are you okay?" shrieked Hayley.

"Eww Eww Eww Eww Eww!!!" she shrieked back.

"Emma there are more foot holds that head back up to the platform on the other side." Alex replied while continuing on. "Keep moving Hayley." Alex replied sternly. She continued on to the end.

"I hate this!!!" Emma screamed. She was covered head to toe in mud now and she held her scowl.

"This is going to take hours to wash out!!" On this side, there were three ropes to scale down the side on. Alex grabbed the one in the middle and started to slowly scale down the side. Emma followed grudgingly while Hayley stood at the top.

"We need to hurry Hayley!" Alex shouted to Hayley who wasn't moving.

"I hate heights!"

"How did you make it across the plank then?"

"I told myself that it would be worse to fall into the mud than walk across the plank!"

"Then don't look down! Turn around, grip the rope, and gently come down the side. I'll catch you if you fall." Alex replied. While inwardly cursing himself for his stupidity about not thinking about what kind of condition he was already in.

"Really?"

"Yes. Now we need to hurry." He said in a monotone.

"Ok." She turned around and gripped the rope and slowly inched her way down.

"you're doing great Hayley. You're almost there." Alex replied encouragingly. Alex turned his back to Hayley to see what they needed to do next. Before him was a another pile of mud where they had to cross underneath the barbed wire. Hayley made it down to the ground. Once she was down, Alex urged them on toward the mud pile. Alex went first into the mud and army crawled through it splattering mud right and left. He tried to keep his torso from hitting the ground, but it was a useless act. He continued to hiss in pain in frustration.

"Ouch!" Emma yelled out of the blue in pain. Once Alex got out from under the barb wire, he waited for the girls while catching his breath. Once Hayley was almost out, he continued through the tires. Once he reached the other side, he looked beyond him. He counted three more things to do. "Great." He muttered to himself.

"What—do—we— have— to—do next?" replied Emma while putting her arms over her head.

"Looks like a huge net to climb over, some kind of hurtles, and then another run." Alex replied while continuing to look.

"We better hurry. Emma, take the lead." Emma took the lead and started her jog towards the huge net. She started to climb up and over like a spider Hayley had a bit more trouble, and Alex climbed with one hand protecting is middle torso.

They were up and over in no time and on their way to the hurtles. They were huge posts about five feet tall with about a foot length plank of wood sitting on them and there was about four of them.

"Alex," replied Emma after reluctantly letting him take his proper role the team captain, "How are we supposed to do these?"

"Emma, you'll go first. I want you to step onto my cupped hands and I'll lift you up. Hayley will then follow you up and over. I'll follow while pulling myself up and over. We'll do that for all four of them." Emma and Hayley both slowly nodded. Alex cupped his hands like he did before, and Emma cautiously stepped on his hands. He lifted her up enough where she could pull herself up and over.

"Hayley." She took one step next to him and timidly stepped on his hands as well. He lifted her up like he did Emma and she pulled herself up and over. He paused for a few seconds to brace himself for the pain that he was about to experience and he pulled himself up and over.

Once he was up and over, they continued the same motions for the other three. Once they were done, they were all breathing quite hard.

"We've got another jog ahead of us. Let's go."

They continued off in the direction ahead. After two or three kilometers, they ended up at the end. Where there were two other teams waiting for them and an unhappy Wolf.

"What took you so long?!" he bellowed at them.

"It took you twenty-five minutes to complete that course when it only took the others less than twenty. That was a rather pitiful attempt. And you get to go do it again against the other two teams that failed pitifully."

"No." replied Emma.

"What did you say missy?"

"I said no. I will not do that course again."

"Really? You think that you can just say no and walk away?"

"Yes. You can't force us to do anything."

"On the contrary. We can do anything we like to you as long as we don't kill you and do you know why?"

"Because we aren't in Britain missy. MI6 asked us to take a bunch of kiddies as a favor for the government. So we can tell you to do anything we like. So do you want to rethink your statement?" Emma looked frightfully at Wolf. She slowly nodded.

"Good. Now, if no one has any further objections, let's head back to the beginning and try this again."

* * *

They went through the assault course again; doing everything the same way knowing what to expect and they went through it quicker. The only things that were keeping them was Alex's pain, that he wouldn't openly express but had become more noticeable, the clumsiness of both girls. Luckily, they were the first ones there on the second go around.

"That was better than the first go around. Not much, but a bit better. You are dismissed for lunch." All three of them started off towards the mess hall in silence because they were too tired to talk.


	13. pretty in painted

**A/N: Hello my pretties!!! How is everyone? Seeing as I'm stuck home sick today I would be kind and update for you!!!  
**

**I hope you enjoy this lovely next installment!!!  
**

Chapter 13

After lunch the groups where split up to where three went with Snake and the other four went with Wolf for defense lessons. Alex's group was one of the groups that stayed with Snake for a lesson on first aid. Snake first did a brief overview of CPR, and the Heimlich maneuver on a dummy that he brought out. He then went over different types of wounds and how to treat them. Finally, he went over how to splint a broken bone and how to set it.

Once the hour and a half was up, they were sent over to Wolf's station to learn defense. Alex was a little hesitant, but once he got there, Wolf didn't even give Alex a second glance. It wasn't until about half way through the lesson of the correct way to punch someone and the most potent areas did his ribs start to hurt again.

_Damn it. The stupid pain meds have worn off. __Alex silently cursed himself. __Why didn't I defend myself better last night? __**Because you were already hurt stupid. **__Replied a voice from the back of his head. __I still could have put up a better fight. __**You did nothing wrong. You didn't expect Jaguar to lash out like that. **__But if that had happened during a mission, I would have been killed.__** True, but this is where you're supposed to be safe. Not have to be on your guard the whole time. **__But that doesn't matter! __**You're hurt, sleep deprived and worst of all you're just a teenager. **__You're starting to sound like Jack. __He didn't get an answer from that comment. _

"Rider! Get out of that head of yours and pay attention!" Wolf retorted to the teen. Alex glanced back up at the soldier.

"Now, there are many different areas…"

* * *

Once they were done, it was almost dinner time. But before dinner, the seven soldiers that were in charge at the moment decided that they should take their charges on a five K run.

Before heading out Alex attempted to talk to Wolf.

"Wolf."

"What is it Rider?"

"Uhm… Well…"

"I don't have time for this Cub. Later." He said where only Alex could hear.

"But…"

"Red team, let's go." Wolf started to jog off with Emma and Hayley right behind him. Alex hesitated for a second, and then took off right behind them while supporting his ribs with his left hand.

Alex caught up with the two girls after about two Ks. He could see the strain on the faces of the two girls, and he didn't want to see what was etched on his.

"Alex, are you ok?" replied Hayley in between her heavy breathing.

Alex didn't even attempt to speak; he just barely nodded his head in reply. Wolf slowed up a bit when he noticed that the three of them were behind. He was perplexed why Alex wasn't up with himself, but he kept his curiosity to himself. He would ask later on. They arrived back at the mess hall in time for dinner.

Emma, Hayley and Alex started to head in, but Wolf pulled Alex back for a second.

"Cub, why weren't you running like you usually do?" Alex was still breathing really hard and his arm was still supporting his ribs. Wolf glanced down at what Alex was doing.

"Cub, put your hands over your head." Alex slowly obeyed. Wolf put the slightest pressure on Alex's side. Alex immediately retaliated at the touch.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," Alex replied in the best innocent voice he could manage.

"You see, I know you're lying because this is not nothing. Cub, when something happens to you, and I can see that you are accident prone, it's in your best interest to tell me."

"You haven't been listening! I've been trying all day!" Alex replied in a hoarse voice. Wolf slowly attempted to calm himself down. "Cub, let's go get you checked out. I really don't think you want to miss what we're doing tonight." The two of them walked to the infirmary while Emma and Hayley watched the whole scene from the window.

"What's up with Alex?" asked Hayley to Emma.

"We'll just keep an eye on him." Emma replied back.

* * *

After dinner everyone was left to themselves in their bunks. Most of them slept to catch on much needed sleep while others played cards that D-Unit gave them or talked to each other. After Alex had been checked out by one of the doctors, he was given some pain meds. Wolf wasn't very happy about the whole ordeal, number one Alex wouldn't give any details on the whole thing, and he just felt that Alex still didn't trust him, and number two someone close was a dirty soldier. Wolf told Alex that after he ate he was to report to the front lawn for his evening activity which he was allowed to participate in. When Alex got there, the Sergeant gave him a curious look, but then handed him a dark green and black suit, a paintball gun that had a scope already attached, a separate strap that was adjustable, and electric green paintballs and a container of refills, and a radio that was tuned into channel eleven. He started to pull on suit and stumbled a few times from the lack of light. Wolf, Snake and Leopard appeared soon after Alex did. Ten minutes had passed and the last man walked up to the front lawn. The Sergeant left and in his place was another Unit leader.

"Ok," a raspy voice started, "soldiers, after everyone has suited up and found their teams, we will head off. But before we do, I want to run over your objective of this evening activity. You and your team are to hunt down as many other team units as possible. Each unit has been given a different color. The team that has hit the most other teams and has the least number of hits themselves are declared the winner. For every soldier you hit is one point for your unit, but for every time you are hit is minus one for your team. The boundary is marked off in yellow tape. You have a two by two kilometer length to work with. If you cross it you're team is disqualified. The time limit is one hour. You have five minutes to come up with a strategy. Does everyone understand?" Nods and grunts of approval where sketched across the group. Wolf motioned for Snake, Leopard and Alex to follow him. They went out of earshot of the other units.

"Ok, seeing as we have Cub, they'll underestimate us. Cub, you can shoot right?"

"Yeah,"

"The forest is split into four sections and the boundaries are labeled with gold paint. The each section has a different number of stripes. Each of us should take a section. Any objections?" Alex, Snake and Leopard all didn't.

"Cub, take number one, it's the closed to us. Snake, about a kilometer in you'll reach section four. Leopard, go a kilometer to the west and that's section two, I'll take section three."

"How do you know about the sections?" Alex asked Wolf.

"I painted them last night." Wolf replied with a smug look upon his face. He continued, "Also, our radios are programmed for channel eleven for this exercise. Keep regular communication." Right when Wolf finished his sentence a whistle was blown.

"Time to go!" shouted Snake. The four sprinted off into the woods while slinging their guns into their hands in ready position. Alex headed straight while the others continued on in their direction. Once Alex reached the cover of the trees, he found a tree that provided perfect cover and had a low enough branch where he wouldn't have to worry about hurting himself climbing. Slinging his gun to where it was on his back, he started his accent up the tree. About twenty feet up the tree, the branch was far enough up where you could see everything within a kilometer radius, it would be hard to see him because it was so dark, and if he were to fall he probably wouldn't die. Once he steadied himself, he again slung his gun around, and adjusted the scope. Once he could see the ground, he pivoted very slowly from left to right. He took out his radio after doing a sweep and replied, "Cub to K-Unit in position over." After he made contact, he did another sweep of his territory. He spotted someone and after a couple seconds of taking aim, he pulled the trigger letting the paintball fly. He hit his mark square in the back then without making a sound pulled his back up against the tree quickly.

He silently hissed in pain from the sudden movement, but after a couple of seconds the pain subsided. The man that he hit was on high alert moving from back to forth rather in a clumsy way. Alex smiled for a second while watching the man figure out where the hit came from. The man couldn't find where the hit came from so he continued on to scout the area. It wasn't until a good minute or two later until Alex felt that he could continue sniping. Like before he pivoted slowly from left to right while looking though his scope to see better. Once he found another victim hidden in a nearby bush, he waited for the man to move so he had a clean shot. It wasn't until a few seconds later when the man did move, but his radio buzzed to life.

"Damn it!" Alex quietly hissed. He immediately turned down his radio, but the man was gone from the bush. Alex, hugging the tree with his back this time, did another sweep. He found the man again but this time he was about to shoot into the in which Alex was in. So, waiting until the man had pulled his trigger trying to find the sound that came from the tree, he was in ready position with his finger on the trigger. The man shot into the tree. The shot was a lot higher than Alex was stationed at so it was a wasted shot.

Alex immediately took his shot. The shot hit him square in the chest and the man stumbled back from impact. He brought up his gun again and this time went behind a tree for cover. The man attempted to trace where the shot came from, but with no avail. He shot a couple of more times, and the second to last shot landed on the bark of the tree about three inches from Alex's face.

"I know you're playing in the tree's monkey boy!" the man shouted. He swiped a little bit of the paint to analyze it up close. "K-Unit I can see. Hem… Seeing as I doubt Wolf could get up into that tree without breaking a limb, Snake wouldn't even think about it, and Leopard is pretty much good for nothing, that only leaves the kid."

Alex took aim again but before pulling the trigger, he shouted, "yeah you're right, but I bet," He pulled the trigger three times but this time, one hit him on his forehead, one in the neck, and the third hit him in the same place as the first one. "I can out shoot you."

The man was furious now. He continued to shoot up into the tree, but a lot of the leaves and branches deflected most of the paint balls. A couple did happen to hit Alex, but he decided to not mention it to the man.

"Snake to Cub over." His radio buzzed to life.

"What's up Snake? Over," Alex replied into the radio while holding down the button.

"Where are you? Over," Snake replied.

"In a tree. Over,"

"I'm heading your way. Over,"

"Hey I'm talking to you!" replied the man that Alex had shot at only a couple of minutes before.

"I would get going! Or do you want me to shoot you in the head again?" threatened Alex. The man grudgingly walked off into the cadaverous moonlight. Alex, deciding that it was probably better to get out of the tree seeing as how Snake was heading his way and they only had about half an hour left until the activity was over. Slinging his gun once again around to his back, he descended down the tree very slowly. Taking an extra precaution because it was so dark and he didn't want to fall he slung the gun around to his front so if he did fall he wouldn't land on it. His precaution was indeed needed when his left foot miss judged the second to last branch and he knew that he held onto the branch that he would probably cause more damage to his ribs. So falling down about nine feet wasn't all too bad, but he still groaned in pain when he hit the ground. He was winded but still alive.

"Snake to Cub over." Snake's voice rang from the radio once more. He waited a couple of seconds more before answering.

"What, over." He replied back.

"I'm not far from where you are. Over," Alex sighed. Waiting about a minute longer, he slowly picked himself up off the ground. He heard a couple of twigs snap, and not knowing if it was Snake or not he put his back to the three and took aim towards the sound. Because it was so dark, he pulled the trigger just in case.

"Cub!" Snake yelled.

"Sorry." Snake, coming over, stepped into the moonlight. He was somewhat covered in head to toe in paint.

"What happened to you?"

"I didn't pick the best place. So I got pretty painted."

"Do you want my extras?"

"If you don't mind." Alex slid the container out of his pocket of his suit and gave them to Snake.

"Thanks,"

"Seeing as we have about twenty minutes left, do you want to see some of the action? I've noticed you're not very colorful." replied Snake while looking Alex up and down.

"Let's go then." They both headed off into a jog. It didn't take the two of them to reach the fourth section, and you could hear the spattering of paint on people. They both ducked behind a large bush, and brought their guns out. Alex spotted two other men behind a nearby tree, took aim on one of them and shot, then adjusted and shot the other man.

"Jeez Cub, I never knew you could shoot." Snake took aim and attempted to shoot a man that was behind another tree a couple of yards further back. Alex noted the attempt, aimed for the man and also missed him as well.

Alex, sensing that someone was close behind them, turned around immediately took aim and shot. He held down the trigger for a few seconds to let the man to not bother. Snake, not noticing until he heard Alex's heavy breathing, turned around to see what Alex was doing.

About ten minutes later a loud whistle was blown which meant that they were supposed to report back to the lawn. Alex, only covered in a couple of different colors, rose from behind a tree where he moved to get a better shot. Snake was still behind the bush when he stood up. Snake was covered in ten times more colors than Alex. Snake and Alex together walked back to the lawn. Waiting for them when they returned was Wolf and Leopard. Wolf was only covered in a few colors while Leopard wasn't as covered like Snake, but almost as bad.

"Well, we can defiantly tell who the better shooters are." Wolf replied sarcastically and gave Alex a wink. A man from the unit that conducted this evening activity, counted the number of hits that they all received and what color.

The leader of that same unit once again stood up in front of the group. "We are counting the final points at the moment…" he paused while he was given the clipboard.

"This is surprising," he announced not as loud as he did before. "The standings go, B-Unit has won." The man announced in a little confused but confident voice. Cub placed his gun and radio on the ground, and started to take off his suit. Once it was off, he started to head back to his bunk. He arrived a little dazed and was covered in sweat. It wasn't quite ten yet, so some of the boys were still awake.

"Where have you been?" Paxton asked who was sitting on his bunk reading a book that he brought with him.

"Kitchen Duty remember?" Paxton shrugged and returned to his book. Alex untied his shoes and took of his uniform. He slid into the sheets with just his undershirt and his underwear on. He fell into a black sleep before he hit the pillow.

* * *

**How'd you like it? Hate it? Love it? Want to tear me to pieces? **

**Here's a couple of questions that I want you to think about:**

**What do you think Hayley meant when she said, "we'll just keep an eye on him."?**

**Who's the voice inside of Alex's head? **


	14. Scavenger Hunt

**A/N: Ok, ok, I'm sorry that i haven't updated in a while and I can tell you that this was not my most favoritest chapter to write. It probably sucks, but I promise to make it better next time. It's also probably a tad bit boring, but I promise that the next one will be better. This was truly just a filler. **

Chapter 14

Once again Alex woke up early to his watch beeping. He silently climbed out of bed and headed towards the showers for a morning rinse. He quietly groaned while once again supporting his ribs. Once he knew that his ribs didn't move anymore, and after a few of the boys rolled in their cots from the disturbance, he got up and grabbed a change of clothes with his muddy boots in hand, and headed towards the bathhouse. Once inside, he noticed that there were still a few men left. They gave him a few glances, but most of them just left him alone. They either saw him last night, or they were too busy with something else to care. Alex inwardly sighed. He wouldn't have to deal with these men today. Taking a towel off of the rack, he hung it on the hook next to him and stripped down to the braces and his boxers. He didn't take off the braces, but instead checked them thoroughly to make sure that they were still supporting his upper-torso.

They were, so he continued to take off his boxers and step into the warm water crashing down from the faucet over head. He groaned from the impact of the water against this skin, but he welcomed it warmly.

After his morning shower, he got dressed and headed towards the shooting range. Lion was there again, seeing as he was the head supervisor of the range.

"I'll let you shoot with a small pistol, but I can't allow you to shoot with anything bigger than that." He replied while heading into a little shed and a few seconds later coming out with a Glock 17, and three magazines that had nineteen rounds each.

"Fine," Alex replied while grudgingly taking the gun out of his hands and sliding one of the magazines in. Lion handed him a pair of goggles, and ear plugs.

"Shoot a magazine, then I'll correct you on the things you need to be corrected. I assume you've shot before right?" Alex nodded his head. He put the goggles on, and then put the ear plugs in. A target came down and Alex unlocked the safety and then took aim. Once he was completely ready, he began rapidly pulling the trigger. He emptied the magazine in about a minute and once he was out, he observed his results. He took off his goggles and earplugs so he could hear properly. All of the bullets landed in the center of the target. Lion looked dumbstruck while looking at his results.

"Jeez Cub! I didn't know you could shoot!" Alex attempted to hide a sheepish grin, but with the look on Lion's face he couldn't hold back.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that? It took me years to come anywhere close!"

"It doesn't matter." Alex replied quietly. The sides of his ribcage started to pound. Alex winced with pain while biting his tongue in the process. Lion just happening to glance at Alex replied, "Are you ok Cub?"

"Yea, I'll be fine in a minute." Alex covered the sides of his ribcage while subconsciously trying to get them to stop hurting.

"You don't look good. Don't worry about the other two magazines. Just give them here and you can shoot with them tomorrow." Alex slowly nodded and handed him the other two out of his pocket. Alex then turned and left without another word to the soldier. Knowing that he needed meds, he headed for the infirmary once more. Like the day before, he headed for breakfast afterwards.

He caught up with his class at breakfast, and decided to sit with Hayley and Emma. Both Hayley and Emma didn't mind seeing as he was on their team. But their friends just plainly ignored him like he wasn't even there.

"I feel so sorry for you guys! How could you get stuck with Rider?" Amber replied while flipping her hair off of her shoulders.

"I know!! I feel so bad!" Jessie added. Alex, deciding to tune them out, scanned the rest of the mess hall noting where everyone was sitting without moving his head much.

Towards the end of breakfast, Lynx headed to the front bench and table set and stood on it.

"Can I have everyone's attention." He plainly stated. The mess hall slowly settled down.

"Ok, after breakfast, I want everyone to report to the front lawn with your team. From there you will receive further instructions." He stepped down from the table and a couple of the kitchen aids that clean the tables glared at him for leaving shoe prints on a table that they had just cleaned.

Alex evilly smiled.  
"What?" asked Emma while looking at Alex.

"Just the fact that the Kitchen aids did not appreciate what he just did."

"I don't understand."

"What he's trying to say is that Lynx stepped on a clean table that the Kitchen Aids had just cleaned and so with him stepping on it with dirty boots they have to clean it again."

"I get it now. Why didn't you just say that?" Alex just shook his head and slightly rolled his eyes.

"Are you guys done yet?" Alex replied while getting up out of his seat.

"Yea." They both replied simultaneously. They both handed him their tray of trash and he was about to carry it when a noise stopped him. He turned around to see a couple of the other girls hold out their trays as well. Alex huffed, but went back for their trays as well. Once he came back, Emma and Hayley got out of their seats and Alex followed them to the door.

The trio walked out into the bright sun and headed towards the field. It didn't take them long to get there, and upon their arrival, they saw seven bags up behind them.

"I wonder what we're doing." Hayley stated.

"Do you want me to take an educated guess?" Alex asked.

"Sure, why not."

"I'm guessing that we're going on some kind of trip whether it is backpacking or some kind of scavenger hunt."

"That actually sounds like fun." Emma replied while thinking about it. They continued to where they were only a few feet away from men. There were a couple of groups before them already so they went to go join them.

"Once everyone gets out here we'll start." Wolf stated to Alex's group specifically.

It wasn't for another fifteen minutes until all of the groups where out here before the soldiers.

"Glad to see that everyone is accounted for." Wolf replied with it dripping in sarcasm.

"Ok, you all are going on a scavenger hunt. You and your team have to complete it in I would say about 11 hours. You sleep on your own schedule, and you eat on your own schedule just as long as you're back before sunset. Some of the clues are indeed in the forest. The boundaries for this exercise are roped off so none of you will get lost. If you do indeed get lost, there's a three hour penalty to come and get you. Keep your clues because they will be used to check how if you have successfully completed the activity. All of your basics are in your bags, food, map, first aid kit, compass, canteens, a pocket knife which by the way is not to be played with!, a whistle, and a watch to monitor your time. You're first clue is located will be handed to you by your mentor." He took a deep breath before continuing. "When I give the ok, you may begin and the clock is starting." All of the team leaders raced to their mentors to collect their clue.

Before Wolf gave him the clue he whispered in his ear, "There's some meds in the front pocket. By the way, Snake's not happy with you for not telling him." Wolf then immediately handed him the clue. Alex grabbed the three bags and sprinted back to his team. He handed each of the girls a backpack and he opened the clue.

It read, "Whose woods these are, I think I know. His house isn't in the village though."

"I don't get it." Emma replied.

"It's a knock off of the poem 'Stopping by the Woods in a Snowy Evening'." Hayley replied.

"There's a shack in the middle of the woods." Alex replied quietly.

"How do you know?" Hayley replied.

"I—saw it on the way to the assault course." He answered hesitantly.

"Oh, ok!" Emma responded.

"Well, if we know where we're going, we better go." Hayley retorted. Alex started off at an easy jog towards the shack. It was a few kilometers into the woods, and it only took them about twenty-five minutes to get there.

They reached the shack, and saw seven envelopes tapped to the door. All of them had their color named written on them.

"Why don't we just take the other ones?" Hayley replied.

"Because that would be mean!" Emma declared.

"I agree, let's not." Alex acknowledged. "Let's just read the clue."

"Big ones small ones and in between ones are what you now seek. Just make sure that you touch!"

"The girl's bunks!" Emma yelled.

"I'm more thinking the shooting range."

"Well, the girl's bunks are one the way to the shooting range. So if they're not there we can go to the shooting range." Emma thought. They headed off to the girl's bunks. Alex had an uneasy feeling about this next one. After another jog to the girls bunks, they found that the next clue wasn't there, but instead a tall blond woman was standing there. She was in her mid thirties dark blue eyes.

"I'll give you your clue when you complete this little task. The first clue was a free one. Every clue after this will cost you. First, one of you must take the fighting skills that you learned yesterday and fight me. Who is up to the challenge?" Both Hayley and Emma turned to look at Alex.

"I guess I was out voted." Alex replied while handing his backpack to Hayley who put it at her feet.

"You're move first Agent Freedbush."

"What?" Emma asked to Hayley.

"We'll ask him later." She said back to where only Emma could hear her. Agent Freedbush made her move first with a punch aimed at his torso. He blocked it easily, and only using half of his strength shot out with is leg to her solar plexus. She sidestepped, and used a roundhouse kick to the heart, which Alex ducked. Using one hand to punch her in gut, he immediately lashed down with his foot to the back of her legs when she moved to dodge the first attack. She fell to the ground and immediately got back up.

"Very good Rider. Here's your clue."

After a few more clues, it started to reach mid-day.

"How many clues do you suppose are left?" asked a very tired Hayley.

"Seeing as we have ten, I would say not many more." They were walking towards the assault course. Earlier they had done just about everything that you could think of. Sprinting, sit ups, pushups, swimming, first aid, just about everything. They were obviously tired, but they continued on. Once they got there, they were greeted by a smiling Wolf.

"Welcome back." He replied.

"What do we have to do now?"

"To finish the race, you have to go through the assault course once more. I would be quick about it too, at the moment you're leading the race."

The trio looked at each other.

"I'll meet you on the other side."

Alex, putting his backpack on the ground, fished around in the front pocket for his meds. This was one of the few down times they had before taking off and he was going to use it. His ribs had starting hurting about an hour back, and he really needed to relieve that pain. He found the small bottle, and took out his half empty canteen. He put two pills in his mouth and downed them with a gulp of water. Both Hayley and Emma saw the pill bottle in his hand, but once again decided to hold back on the questions until the activity was over with.

Once Alex slipped the bottle back into the front pocket, he replied, "Let's go."

They went through the assault course, having it not changed since they last did it. Once again they went up and over the wall, across the planks Emma didn't slip this time, scaling down the other side of the wall, crawling underneath barbed wire, up and over a net, hurtles, and then another run. They arrived back at the same clearing that they ended the last time was well to another grinning Wolf.

"Very good. Make sure you have your clues out when you arrive back at the front lawn."

He started to jog back to the start of the assault course and the trio started their slow jog back to the front lawn.

Upon arrival, Emma got out the clues from the front pocket of her backpack. They stopped in front of Jaguar who was the only one out of the group of soldiers that hadn't been at a station.

His eyes lighted up with anger when he caught sight of him. Alex was the only one out of the group that noticed.

"Here," Emma said quietly while handing Jaguar the clues. He looked at them.

"You win." Jaguar replied quickly with a slight growl at the end.

"Leave your back packs here and report for dinner."

The three of them were sitting at one of the tables with their trays in front of them.

Emma decided that it was the right time to ask, so she asked, "How do you know that agent?"

Alex taking a bite of his dinner, replied after swallowing, "She dated my uncle until he died."

"Oh, ok, and what were those pills you were taking before the assault course?"

Alex cringed. He didn't pay attention to the fact that they noticed them.

"Anti-depressants." He really didn't enjoy lying to him. Especially since he'd learned that he can somewhat depend on them.

"I see," Hayley replied skeptically.

"I'm going to head back to my bunk." He took his tray threw away the trash and placed the tray on top of a long table and then headed out the door.


	15. Vicodin

**a/n: Ok ok, there's no excuse for not updating for two months. So I'm deeply sorry and I'm sure everyone hates me for it. But what matters now is that I have updated!**

**I can't promise when I'll update again... seeing as every other week I'm not home... **

**I thought that seeing as it's the fifteenth chapter I haven't done this in a while...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters with in the Alex Rider series. But I do own all of the characters that aren't mentioned and maybe one day I will own Alex Rider. If not him, at least Wolf...  
**

___Chapter 15_

_In the woods, two figures stood about five feet apart from each other. One dimly casted shadow from the moon stood with an odd looking envelope tucked up in the arm pit while the other stood motionless. _

_"I appreciate what you have done." The shadow that held the envelope replied the voice was defiantly female. She gave the envelope to the other person that casted the second shadow._

_"It was nothing. I just hope you know what you're doing ma'am." This second voice was deep and monotone and held an air of a leader. She slowly nodded her head. _

_"Scorpia told me to do whatever it takes." _

_"May I make a suggestion?" _

_"Go on," she replied while leaning to her left foot impatiently. _

_"If you are planning on killing Rider, make sure you do it without witnesses." _

_"I'm well aware of that thank you." She retorted back frustrated with being out in the open. She turned to—_

Alex immediately shot up in bed heavily panting. Paxton as well woke up with a start.

"What's the matter Rider?"

"Nightmare," he stated blankly. Paxton blinked a couple of times before turning on his other side and falling asleep again.

Alex slowly laid his head back on his pillow facing up. Breathing deeply to calm down his beating heart, he started to ponder the meaning of his dream. After coming up with nothing, he slowly drifted back off into unconsciousness.

That morning, everyone crowded into the mess hall for breakfast. While everyone was eating, Wolf made an announcement.

"Can I have everyone's attention," he stated so everyone could hear him. He continued, "We have another addition to our group. Agent Freedbush is here for all the girls that need to speak to a woman." Alex and the rest K-Unit noticed Wolf's face turn a light color of pink.

"She will be staying in one of the guest rooms in the main office building if you need her." He finished lamely.

Alex, thinking about his dream that he had last night, shook his head in annoyance. Both Emma and Hayley gave him a strange look, but they didn't ask him any direct questions.

"Hey Em," Hayley started after a couple minutes of silence.

"Yea?" she questioned.

"Do you think we'll have to turn in those reports for English once we get back?"

"I don't know. What do you think Alex?" Emma asked Alex.

"What?" he replied.

"Do you think that we'll have to turn in those reports for English?"

"I have no idea." He cringed a little bit from a sudden throbbing from his ribs.

"Are you ok?" Emma asked.

"I-I'm f-fine." He slowly closed his eyes while slowly breathing out a few times. He didn't remember his ribs hurting last night and was a tad bit thankful.

"I'll be right back." He stated while leaving the table and heading out the door. Opening the door, the sunlight hit Alex's pale face. His torso was agonizingly painful, so he hastily walked back to his bunk.

"Should we follow him?" Emma asked to Hayley when they were still in the mess hall. All of the teams were just finishing up with breakfast.

"Why not," They both got up from the table and headed in the same direction that Alex had just taken. Wolf noted Alex's departure and followed by his other two teammates. He gave them a curious look, but they paid no mind to it.

Alex finally got back to his bunk, and with a shaky hand went through his stuff to find the pill bottle that he had gotten from the infirmary. It was a little orange bottle that had a prescription label written with Alex's name on it, the name Vicodin on it, along with the side effects. He found the little bottle at the bottom of his bag and unscrewed the top and took out two pills. He dry swallowed them when two people came into the building.

Hayley came over and took the pill bottle out of Alex's hand who was trying to conceal it from the two of them.

"I knew he wasn't taking anti-depressants!" Hayley yelled. She read the label once more and her facial expression dropped to a frown.

"Vicodin? You're taking Vicodin? For what?" Alex attempted to grab for the bottle, but Hayley pulled away. "What is this Alex?"

"It's for the pain." He simply stated.

"What pain? The pain of losing your uncle a year ago? It's time to let go."

"Not it." Alex continued to breath while waiting for the pills to take effect.

"Then what?!" Emma pleaded.

"I can't tell you." He dipped his head in defeat.

"You see, you can tell us. We're your teammates." Hayley stated. Alex slipped to the floor to where he had his back to his cot. Hayley and Emma followed suit.

"Only for these three weeks are you my teammates, but out in the real world, I have no one." Hayley hugged him and leaned her head upon his shoulder. Alex cringed from the extra weight being pressed down upon his ribs. He didn't say anything to Hayley about it though. He just hopped that the pills would take effect soon. Silence filled the room once more and the three of them sat there each of them deep in thought. Hayley continued to thumb over the pill bottle. Emma deciding to make sure he didn't have anything else went through his bag. She came up empty and sighed with relief.

About twenty minutes later, Wolf came knocked on the door and entered.

"You do realize that we have things to do." He scowled. Emma spoke up for the team. "Alex isn't feeling well. We'll take whatever punishment that you deal out but we won't be there this morning." Wolf, surprised by her sudden boldness, simply nodded and spoke, "Believe me you will." He walked out of the door and the room relapsed into silence once more.

During the relapse of silence, Alex finally fell asleep. Both Hayley and Emma woke him up a couple of hours later. Alex was grateful for them staying with him and sticking up for him. It was almost lunch time so the three of them headed towards the mess hall. Upon arrival, no one had arrived yet, so they sat at their normal table. About ten minutes later, the first couple of teams arrived back and were covered from head to toe in mud, leaves and tiny sticks. Alex, Hayley, and Emma joined the crowd of hungry teenagers in the line. Each received their food and sat down at the table once more. The three of them were receiving dirty looks from the others.

"I wonder what that's about." Hayley whispered to the other two.

"I'm sure Wolf punished them for us not showing up." Alex replied.

"Why would he do that?" Emma asked.

"Because he knows even the most physical punishment ends at some point. It's mental ones that are usually harsher." Alex answered.

"I didn't take Wolf as a deep thinker." Hayley stated. All three of them laughed. The soldiers started to come into the mess hall.

Snake came up to the table on his way in just after Alex finished eating.

"Agent Freedbush would like to see you in her room for a couple of minutes." Snake stated.

"How'd you get sent as messenger?" Alex replied. Snake frowned slightly.

"I drew the long straw." He murmured under his breath.

"Wait, I thought it was the short straw." Emma piped up.

"That got boring. So we changed it." He slightly grinned. Alex, taking a deep breath, got out of his seat from the table.

"What's the room number?" Alex asked Snake before comforting his teammates, "I'll catch up with you guys ok?" Both Emma and Hayley nodded.

"It's the first one on the right once you pass the offices." Snake replied before following Alex outside into the warm morning. Once both men were outside, Snake didn't follow Alex towards the main building; instead he headed back into the mess hall.

It didn't take long for him to get there, so once he arrived he headed towards the guest quarters. They were towards the back of the building and were rarely used. He arrived at the door only a few minutes after leaving the mess hall. He politely knocked on the door before opening it. The room was dark when he entered, and the only light that was available was the light that came from the just opened door and a dim light from the bathroom door crevice. Alex's senses went into overdrive because he hadn't expected this kind of scenario. Alex sensed a person behind him and attempted a side kick, but the blow just went through air. The door was slammed shut and locked and in that one swift movement, the cold barrel of a gun rested upon the crown of his head. Two small lamp-like lights came on that gave off a strange orange-ish glow.

"Watch it Alex." A female voice replied behind him.

"What do you want?"

"Well, seeing as it's my job to kill you, I probably should get it done." The cold voice replied.

"Why are you doing this Lisa?" Alex asked.

"Well," she began Alex noticing that her voice had turned from cold and playful to ruff and emotional. "I'm going to tell you a little story Alex so you can get the bigger picture." She took a deep breath but didn't concede the gun resting on top of his head.

"It all began when you're uncle and I started dating..." She started to tell her tale of her ups and downs with his Uncle. Alex knew that she had dated his Uncle Ian, but he didn't realize how serious it was.

"…Everything was perfect before Gregorovich killed Ian. Did you know that he was on his way home to propose to me? I had already started planning for the wedding." She wiped a tear away from her eye. Figuring that this was his only chance of taking Agent Freedbush down, he took it.

"Not so fast Alex." Freedbush fired the gun to where the bullet only grazed his arm. Alex stopped in his tracks knowing that he couldn't do anything now. "Let me finish my story." Alex heavily sighed and gritted his teeth from the pain in his upper arm. Blood started to gush so he attempted to cover up the wound and apply pressure to ease the bleeding.

"You see I was mourning Ian's death but I was also filled with hatred because the same people that I worked for didn't give him the backup that would have kept him alive. I decided to avenge his death and do you know how I'm going to do that? I'm going to kill their best operative. I'm not only killing their best operative, I'm saving what Ian left behind from the monsters of MI6. You might not see what they have done to you, but the person who loved Ian and who has Ian's family's best intentions at heart sees everything. The coldness that surrounds you is as clear as day. This is a favor to you Alex. I hope that you understand that." She stopped and released the safety once more with another tear in her eye. "Good bye Alex Rider." So with that, she pulled the trigger.


	16. Live long and prosperous

**A/N: Ok, I did promise that I wouldn't go off the face of the Earth again, I did keep my promise!!! It's been less than a month since I last updated. So here you go. This chapter should clear up some of the issues, but I promise it's not done yet!!!**

Chapter 16

Both Hayley and Emma were worried.

Yes Alex had only been gone for roughly ten minutes, but with the sudden appearance of Agent Freedbush, they were both on edge. It became clear to them that something wasn't right when supposedly Agent Freedbush was there for or as Wolf put it, '_all the girls that need to speak to a woman.'_ So, they were going to put their minds at ease. Together, the two of them walked up to the very intimidating soldiers that were more or less huddled in the back corner of the mess hall.

"Wolf sir," Hayley replied while finding the boldness within her to speak up in front of all the men.

"What is it?" He asked while stopping mid sentence during his conversation with Snake. Both of the two girls now had the eight soldiers' attention.

"It's Alex sir. I don't know how to put this…"

"Then just spit it out." Wolf replied sternly.

"Yes sir, so see, Alex has been gone for quite some time and I-we don't think Agent Freedbush has his best interests at heart. You see—"

"What do you mean?" Snake replied while coming into the conversation.

"Well uhm…" Hayley stuttered and Emma took over.

"Isn't it kind of suspicious that out of the blue Agent Freedbush shows up yesterday afternoon and then this afternoon Alex is the only person that she has met with so far? And supposedly she's here for us not for Alex?" Both the girls could tell that both Snake and Wolf were processing this information.

"So your point is exactly?" Wolf stated.

"Whatever the reason Alex has been missing school for extended periods of time, because we didn't believe the crap that he told us about being sick and we still don't think he's completely telling the truth when it comes to his 'new' reason, I-we think Agent Freedbush isn't there to just talk to—"

"K-Unit this is the Sergeant we've heard guns fired in the guest wing. Report for back up immediately." The radio that Wolf hat attached to his belt sprang to life.

"Ten-four," Wolf replied hastily. He glared at the two girls that stood before him while heading off in a sprint out of the mess hall with four other men behind him.

_Five minutes earlier…_

"Take a seat Jaguar." The Sergeant said while motioning to the seat that was in front of his desk. The Sergeant took the file that lay before him and opened it up. Inside was a picture of Jaguar, his real name, and a brief overview of his life.

"Grew up in London, attended a boarding school in Yorkshire, and graduated top of your class…" he simply stated and then glanced up at Jaguar for a response. Jaguar had a blank face on not hinting anything.

"Sir, permission to speak?"

"Go ahead,"

"Well, what exactly did I do?" Jaguar replied with a curious look on his face.

"You have…" In the distance, the sound of a gun going off rang throughout the building.

"Come on." The Sergeant replied while both of the men stood up. The Sergeant, opening one of his drawers quickly, took out two small hand guns and tossed one to Jaguar. They both started sprinting down the corridor with their guns at the ready. They both figured that the only room that the sound could have possibly came from was Lisa Freedbush's room seeing as she was the only guest that was currently staying in the guest rooms. Upon arrival, the Sergeant took out his walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke hurriedly into it.

"K-Unit this is the Sergeant we've heard guns fired in the guest wing. Report for back up immediately."

"Ten-four," quietly rang through it. Immediately following, the Sergeant turned the volume down to where you could barely hear it so they could be as silent as possible. The Sergeant tapped the top of his head and then pointed to himself. _Watch him. _ Jaguar thought. A couple of seconds later, the five soldiers arrived while the Sergeant held up his fist indicating that they should freeze with their guns at the ready. The Sergeant once again pointed at himself, while moving out of the way so Jaguar could kick down the door. He then counted down. Three… Two… One… Jaguar forcefully ran and slammed his foot into the door breaking it from its hinges while a gun shot rang threw the air.

_Alex and Agent Freedbush_

A quarter of a second distraction is all that Alex needed. With the smallest movement because the sudden outburst of the door falling off of its hinges behind her, Alex had time to duck down out the way of the bullet that would have pierced the center of his forehead. But that duck did have a hefty price tag. Hitting the floor on his grazed arm continued to make him light headed and even more so because the wind was knocked out of him.

A third bullet skidding through the barrel of the gun was heard in the room only a couple of seconds later. A screech of pain echoed through the room. Only to be silenced by silence a couple of minutes later.

"That bitch!" Snake cursed after Jaguar pulled the trigger those couple of seconds later.

"She's not dead." Snake continued after checking her pulse.

"She would be dead if I wanted her to be." Jaguar said in a cool voice. "MI6 will want to interrogate her after she wakes up seeing as she almost killed their prized agent."

Distant murmurs were all that Alex could hear now. His eyesight started to blur along with black spots threatened to take over. He tried to resist, but the temptation was all too much.

Jaguar, noticing that Cub was still on the ground went over to him and picked him up. All of K-Unit now had their eyes glued to what Jaguar was doing because they then started to call Alex's codename out. Everyone except for Fox called out his given name.

Noticing that an arm wrapped around his upper torso, familiar voices calling out to him that his brain couldn't register because of the lack of oxygen, and subconsciously knowing that it was safe, Alex drifted off into the inevitable darkness in Jaguar's arms.

"Let's get Cub to the medical wing quickly." The Sergeant stated while indicating that someone from K-Unit needs to take Agent Freedbush as well but didn't say it out loud. The Sergeant started heading to his office to make some strenuous calls to MI6.

_The Mess Hall_

After hearing what was said over the radio, Hayley and Emma became extremely worried. The other four men (Three SAS Soldiers and another MI6 agent) stared hard at the two girls.

"There's something else we need to tell you seeing as we've gotten to know Alex a little bit more over the last couple of days," Hayley stated while twisting a lock of hair with her finger out of habit. "Alex is on some strong meds." She simply stated in a whisper. Jackal's eyebrows went up at the statement.

"What kind?" he asked in a strong but quiet voice.

"Vicodin, and Oxycodone are the main ones I found, but I also found over the counter stuff such as Asprin and Tylenol."

"Whoa. Where are the bottles now?" He looked from Hayley to Emma then back to Hayley for the answer.

"In his backpack?" Jackal asked. They both blinked once. He slightly nodded.  
"Where is this backpack? At his bunk?" They both blinked once more.

"Thank you for telling us this." Lynx replied while almost silently telling Jackal to go and fetch it. While Jackal headed out of the mess hall, Lynx started walking to the front of the mess hall where everyone had finished their lunch and were visiting with each other.

"Ok," the room went dead silent.

"I want everyone to go back to their bunks. We have run into an incident that needs to be dealt with so everything is canceled for the day. If we find you out of your buildings, believe me, the punishment will be extremely harsh. You are dismissed." After stating that, he started heading back to the group. In a quieter voice he stated, "I want you two to stay with us." Both of them nodded their heads.

"Jackal will meet us in the infirmary. Let's go."

_Infirmary..._

Alex hated unconsciousness. It did absolutely nothing for him and when he finally woke up, it just was at permanent reminder that his life was not what it used to be. Sure there was a time or two where he was knocked unconscious during a football game, but looking at the overall scenario, his life was not the same. So when Alex woke up to see nine SAS soldiers plus his two teammates and the Sergeant looming over his bed, he wasn't exactly the cheeriest person in the entire world.

"How ya feeling C—?" Snake asked but held back after remembering that there were two civilians in the room and they didn't know about Alex's ranking.

Alex scanned the small crowd. He took in everyone's facial expression. Fear. Concern. A mix of the two. Or, in Jaguar's case, none at all. _Jaguar._ Alex thought while keeping his glare upon him a tad bit longer than the other men. _What was he doing here?_ A feminine voice broke his reverie.

"How are you feeling Alex?" Hayley asked while concern while Alex attempted to sit up. But to no avail, Wolf gently pushed him back down on the bed.

"You lost a lot of blood Rider." Alex slowly rolled his arm to the side so he could get a better look at his now patched up graze.

"It took eight stitches to fix you up." Snake replied. "But in regards to your medication…" Snake trailed off while looking at the two girls.

"Hayley, Emma, could you please step outside for a second?" Alex asked with cold eyes.

"But Alex, we're the ones that told them where it was." Emma pleaded.

"I figured. But there are some things I'm just not ready to tell you."

"And yet you can tell them?!" Hayley replied while a couple of tears escaped her eyes while pointing at the group of men in front of him.

"You've known them for like four days, and you trust them more than you trust us?" She replied in a pleading yet furious tone. Alex took the abuse of the words and let them sink in. His eyes had turned an icy brown while waiting for her to let it all out.

"I'm not surprised that you're not dead from the blood loss and then plus those pills that you've keep popping. But here you are and yet you still don't fully trust us! What will it take for you to understand that Emma and I care for you!" She wiped away some of the tears that started to cloud her vision while letting the rest roll off her jaw. Stomping away in tears, both Hayley and Emma exited the room while slamming the door behind them.

"Well, that raises another question." Fox replied while running his hand through his hair.

"First things first," Snake replied while glaring Jaguar as well.

"Jackal, Jaguar, Bear, can I ask you to leave for a second?" Without question the three departed out of the room. Once the door shut close, Snake continued to speak.  
"I have noticed that Alex has fractured three of his ribs. They were freshly new, and from the x-rays that I took while he was still unconscious, I can estimate that the incident happened the first day that he arrived. I'm making an educated guess here, and this is reason why I wanted you here Lynx, and I think that Jaguar had something to do with this."  
"Where is this proof?" Lynx asked curious as to why Snake would jump to conclusions.

"This is all speculation Lynx. I'm just bringing this to your attention and I'm hoping…"

"You do realize that you could just ask me. You all are talking about me like I'm not in the room." Alex replied in a cold hoarse voice.

"Did Jaguar do this to you?" Lynx asked. His body language was telling Alex that he hoped that someone from his unit wouldn't do that, but his eyes showed that there was a small possibility.

Alex nodded slowly while lying back on the pillow.

"So I'm assuming that you've been popping those pills because of your ribs. Am I anywhere close?" Alex slowly nodded. His eyes started to feel like weights and it took all of his will power not to close them.

Alex slowly closed his eyes but before finally relenting to the darkness once more, he had to ask a question. The Sergeant had been listening in on the whole conversation and waited till the time was right to voice what he knew on the subject.

"Sergeant," Alex asked while taking a deep breath and sinking into the bed. "Did you know?"

"Yes Cub. I found out this morning. Lion came to me and informed me of this incident, and while you were held at gun point, Jaguar was actually in my office." Alex nodded slowly and drifted off into a slumber.

**Questions to think about...**

**Do you consider Jaguar a good guy or a bad guy? Why?**

**Do you think Alex did the right thing on sending Hayley and Emma out of the room?**

**How do you think Hayley, Emma and Alex's relationship will end up?**

**Thanx!  
**


End file.
